The election for the Student Council was held on November 28–30. There were two teams of candidates for the Student Council. Team number one is “SWITCH,” and team number two is “VIVI:D.” It is worth noting that it has been a while since the election race was held.

Both teams presented policies on various sectors, such as education, welfare, and culture. They both insisted on activating ESG culture in the university by developing a “zero campus” campaign to decrease the use of plastics. Expanding the support of the internship program was also mentioned. Both presented the idea of having a joint event with other universities to activate Daedongje, the spring festival. The vote went along on-line. The total turnout was 39.86 percent. VIVI:D was elected with 62.4 percent of the total votes. Unfortunately, SWITCH failed to win the election, getting 37.6 percent of the total votes.

The UOS Times interviewed elected the candidates before the election to hear their thoughts, and below is the conversation with VIVI:D.

Q. Introduce yourself, please.
A. Hello, I am running as a candidate in the team “VIVI:D.” I am in the College of Business Administration, the class of 2020. I worked in the student council of my department, which is alone comprises a college. I was a junior council member who worked with many seniors as well as a vice chairman, which is the position that connects the juniors and seniors. I later served as chairman, leading all of the students. I am thankful that I have the chance to participate in this election with an affection for student self-governance and my knowledge of the student council, which has developed every year. 

Q. Tell us about your aspirations to run for student council.
A. The days I spent with various students with the same meaning and purposes for UOS, staying up all night, were meaningful experiences in my life. It was a maintenance of a human process, not a business process, because I prepared many projects with my close friends, my beloved junior, and my respected seniors. These experiences have provided a direction for our team, “VIVI:D,” and we made our logo expressing colorfulness which is not decided by a single color. So for the rest of the campaign, we would like to enjoy it with the students of UOS by showing our various colors.

Q. What is the motto or value you think about the student council?
A. The student council represents UOS. It must find the value of the college and be bright and fun. Also, since it is the link that connects the university, and the students, the council must communicate actively with students. At the same time, as the student council is responsible for representing the students in UOS, it has to know how to gather opinions.

Q. How are you going to solve problems in UOS by pledges?
A. Education: We will introduce a class trade prevention system called the “cancellation delay system,” one of the policies implemented by other universities. The cancellation delay system allows students to enroll in a closed class in case a seat opens up only after a certain period of time has elapsed since someone drops the class and the seat becomes available. In addition, we would like to promote an overall evaluation of the required liberal arts subjects, which will be reorganized after discussions with the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Faculty of Education. 

Culture: Many universities, including Suncheon National University, Sejong National University, and Sungkyunkwan University, are conducting a school-level national territory march. Therefore, UOS will also promote a national territory march to build strong bonds and leave precious memories among students. Next, we would like to expand several events every month using the ‘Yurim Garden.’ It boasts a cozy atmosphere at night. VIVI :D’s goal is to actively engage in night busking or free theme activities of university clubs, and department groups, along with night busking, cycling, and film festivals.

Governance: As UOS is a school that attracts the attention of various organizations and half-price tuition has emerged as the most significant issue, we are planning to form a TF team to defend half-price tuition. To raise the awareness of all students, the TF team will be composed of many people, including various students from diverse departments and clubs. After that, activities related to the TF team will be fully shared with the undergraduates to prove that the team is solving this problem.

We want to revive the joint event of the three universities in Dongdaemun-gu, which was cut off due to COVID-19 after the first exchange exhibition of in 2019. Our goal is to ensure that the three university association events (such as Troika) are settled in earnest in line with the campus atmosphere that is now back to face-to-face.

Q. Do you have anything to say or request to the students of UOS?
If there is a need for change in UOS, VIVI:D will start the change. Please vote for candidate number 2 VIVI:D to create a fun, valuable, and transparent UOS.

Ju Da-in 
aaou2@uos.ac.kr