Disciplinary Action Seeking Accountability From the GSA President Fizzles Out

The attempt by the Pusan National University (PNU) non-student council to criticize the lenient disciplinary action and demand further accountability regarding the controversy over the General Students’ Association (GSA) president’s “support of an abusive politician” has practically been foundered.

According to a report by “Channel PNU” on May 17th, the “Student Group Condemnation Against the GSA President (non-student council)” proposed a disciplinary proposal demanding at least a level 4 sanction (disqualification) against the GSA president on May 3rd. However, the GSA reaffirmed its stance of not reconsidering the disciplinary action on May 9th.

As a result, the non-student council has decided to halt any further actions. The council judged that they had reached a dead end because the proposal was still rejected despite submitting a disciplinary proposal that did not violate the principle of prohibition against double jeopardy and reviewing it legally. Previously, the GSA argued that according to the legal advice, it was against the principle of “prohibition against double jeopardy” to hold the Assembly of National Hyowon Representatives again to impose additional sanctions on a matter already disciplined by the Central Operations Committee.

According to the non-student council, the disciplinary issues they intended to address are the GSA president’s refusal to convene the Assembly mandated by the student council and his intimidating behavior towards students by threatening legal action. Lee Seok-Jae (Dept. of Political Science and Diplomacy, 19) from the non-student council said, “We wanted to discuss the essence of the issue, but it seems the focus has shifted to who wins, so we have decided to conclude our activities. We tried to ensure that the convictions and participation of many students, including myself, would remain meaningful memories in our lives.”

With the suspension of the non-student council’s activities, the student community’s movement to hold accountable for additional responsibilities to the GSA president is expected to lose momentum. The demands to have the Assembly, which were discussed by the student councils right after the event, came to nothing. After that, the demands continued strongly by the non-student council. In April, the non-student council hung banners condemning the GSA president around campus and organized a varsity jacket protest with 64 students who shared their views (reported by “Channel PNU” on April 5th, 2024). They had expressed intentions to hold face-to-face protests after the varsity jacket demonstration. However, as the student council members did not actively engage, non-student council considered submitting a disciplinary proposal the most definitive course of action.

Since the two rejections of the Assembly proposals by the student council were rejected twice by the GSA president in March, there has yet to be further discussions between the student councils of the colleges. Lee Seok-Young (Dept. of Social Welfare, 19), the president of the College of Social Sciences Student Council, stated, “Initially, we tried to address the issue through the efforts of the college councils and other student organizations, but there has been little progress due to weak regulations and lack of student interest.” Even in the PNU online anonymous community, “Everytime,” where strong criticism was prevalent immediately after the controversy, there are few posts about the dispute.

About not accepting the disciplinary proposal from the non-student council, the GSA president stated, “I believe that true responsibility lies in leading the GSA to maturity amidst the observation and criticism of many students and working harder for the remainder of my term.” Furthermore, he expressed his commitment to assume “moral responsibility,” not legal responsibility, on March 31st on his personal social media account. He pledged contributions of one million won to the PNU Development Fund, regular voluntary activities by the student council, and the expansion of Daedong-Je (reported by “Channel PNU” on April 2nd, 2024). 

 Reported by Choi Yun-Hui

Translated by Ha Chae-Won