On May 26th to 28th, the student council set up a polling station. It was a referendum to allow Sookmyungians to vote for or against withdrawing from Handaeryun, which is short for 21st Century Korean Undergraduate Union. In the past, it focused on solving youth unemployment issues and high tuition problems, but recently many college students have become dissatisfied with Handaeryun’s concentration on political activities. Therefore, several universities have already broken ties with Handaeryun and at the moment, only about 20 colleges remain in the union. The 46th student council Light Up has organized a referendum to decide whether SMU should keep its ties with Handaeryun or withdraw from the organization. Park Shinae, Department of Political Science and International Relations ’11 and the student body president assert, “SMU joined Handaeryun because we needed solidarity, but now the union has lost its main focus. However, to hear the voice of the entire students, we would like everyone to show their opinion by voting.” Kang Minje, Department of Japanese Studies ’13, while at the voting station claimed, “At first I didn’t really know anything about the Handaeryun issue, but I now I know a lot more and it’s great that the student council is including students in the decision.” A final decision will need to reflect student opinion as determined by the voting result.
