Alumni and Students Call For Ewha W.U. President's Resignation

Students and alumni who are involved in a sit-in at Ewha Womans University since July 28 expressed their strong will in not giving up unless the president assumes responsibility and resigns from her position. This despite the cancellation of a plan to create a disputed college of continuing education.

In the official statement that the students released on Sunday, they said, "In order to end our sit-in, President Choi Kyung Hee must end all police investigations into those engaged in the sit-in, promise that no participant is punished, and notarize all this with a lawyer approved by the students."

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, hundreds of alumni and current students have been involved in a mass sit-in at the main hall of Ewha Womans University since July 28 as a way to contest and oppose a new college of continuing education called Light Up Your Future in Ewha (LiFE) College.

On Wednesday, Choi declared that the initial plan to create the said college is already trashed and urged the students to conclude the sit-in. However, the probe into the students continued.

During the second day of the sit-in, the university called the police in order to save some university professors and staff who were reportedly locked up in the main hall. The authorities then declared that they are going to find the suspects and take judicial action against them.

Authorities also said that they will continue with the investigations in spite of Choi's appeal to the police on Friday, urging them not to press charges against the students who will be found guilty.

The students also remarked, "The students cannot trust President Choi anymore and strongly request that she steps down from her post by 3 P.M., Tuesday, taking responsibility for the recent events at the university. If not, the students and graduates will hold a mass protest on Wednesday."

The proposed LiFE college, which was an initiative headed by the Ministry of Education, was supposed to be a four-year college that will accept people who started working after high school, and would have provided courses and subjects related to health and nutrition, fashion, new media, and more.

However, the plan was met with utmost opposition from the alumni and students, even calling it a strategy of the university to "sell degrees." Presently, the university has a continuing education center that offers similar studies to those initially planned for the LiFE college program.