In response to the ever-growing challenges of securing employment, CWNU established the School of General Study in 2009. In order to lay the foundation of liberal arts learning, the students are free to take any courses of their choice in their first three semesters. By doing so, students are given the time to develop their potential and think about what to major in when they enter the 2nd semester of their sophomore year. However, due to its recent establishment, the department lacks organization and does not have full time professors in its faculty. Thus, the students have no one to turn to whenever they have questions to ask. This has caused a growing dissatisfaction among students who are now finding the old method more favorable.

Lee Soo-ji, a student from this department said “When I first entered the department of General Study, the university seemed to be concerned with us. At first, they said that they would help us a lot, but nowadays, whenever we ask them for help, they always tell us to go to other offices. It’s very frustrating.” Another student, Park Ho-kyeong, thinks that the students had better stick to the old method. He said “We feel isolated. We can’t find anybody who is interested in General Study. We don’t have full time professors and the university doesn’t take care of us.”

In particular, the first problem for the students is the classroom. Originally, the classroom is used freely by the department’s students. However, this room is controlled by the Office of Student Affairs, and this causes conflict. The classroom is situated right next to the Office of Student Affairs, and their staff thinks that since they are frequently visited by guests, they cannot tolerate the noise coming from the students next door. On the other hand, the students think that the classroom is their own place and a symbol of their student rights. Recently, some students were scolded by the Office of Student Affairs for not cleaning the room. One student asks “Do they check other department’s classrooms?”

These problems began last year, but when the students who were admitted in 2009 raised their concerns, they only heard “Please wait and ask next year.” Kim Eun-ji, who is transferring to the Department of Business Administration from General Study said, “Last year in November, when we asked them about our problems, they told us that it was too late to do anything so we should just wait for next year. But when we became sophomores, we we’re busy deciding which majors to take so we forgot about our department’s problems. But I feel sorry for the freshmen who have to go through the same troubles as we had. I hope these problems are settled immediately.”

Kim E-Seul  media@changwon.ac.kr

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