After a long-standing conflict, the Student Welfare Council of the University of Seoul (UOS) eventually requested the school to take action against the violators who have saved the Main Library seats. In correspondence, on January 6th, the Main Library removed all the belongings remaining on seats, and banned those students from using the library for 30 days.

The Student Welfare Council said that they are not the main agents of this punishment, but that they still think that they should show responsibility regarding this matter. One anonymous member of the council said, “We will keep checking whether the seats are being used according to the rules and carry out random checking of the seats.”

Also, the Main Library posted schedules for big clean-ups and disposal of things left alone to prevent seat saving. They will recycle all of the personal belongings left alone, and those who are caught for the saving will be prohibited from entering the library and borrowing books for some amount of time. The detailed schedule for cleaning can be found on the website of the UOS Main Library.

 Since at least as far back as 2008, the matter of seat saving has been in contention. According to the UOS Press, in 2013,  130 out of 1,023 seats were saved when the student council carried out a campaign to check the current condition of seat saving. Many students complained about the inconvenience from issuing tickets for seats again when they found that there were belongings left alone. However, some students also opposed removing the load without providing any notification. It seems like inconvenience will be lessened, but the discord between the two stances will remain.


By Sang-yeop Lee

저작권자 © The UOS Times(서울시립대영자신문) 무단전재 및 재배포 금지