A revision to the Private School Law was submitted to the National Assembly a year ago by the ruling party, but now at a critical point in the process the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is trying to cause it problems. There are only 16 days until the end of the review deadline set by Assembly speaker Kim Won Gi, and only now does the GNP demand additional discussion. Wasn't the past year ample time to review the bill?
If the GNP had any intention of reforming private university education it had plenty of time to work on the legislation. For years education groups have campaigned for the law to be revised so as to eradicate corruption in private education, and the bill now in the Assembly reflects those demands. The GNP, however, let time go by without ever proposing any responsible alternatives until August 26, when it had the 15 legislators who first initiated the bill out of its 125 members demand more time to discuss it. It is a little hard to look at the GNP's approach and think of it as having pure intentions given the process so far.
Corruption has continued at private universities even while the bill was napping in the Assembly. There were the irregularities in the entrance test process at Sogang University that shocked the whole country last year, the embezzlement by the vice president of Seoul Digital University in May, and the embezzlement of money from Gangneung Yeongdong College's budget by former Hanbo group chairman Jeong Tae Su. Cases of corruption at private universities are too many to count. The corruption that occurs is, put simply, a comprehensive example of the methods and scale of the corruption that takes place elsewhere. Perhaps that's natural, given how the chairmen of the organizations that run private universities are allowed to reign over them like emperors.
We can no longer leave the students who will eventually be responsible for our future in such hotbeds of corruption. The revision bill has to be passed immediately, as it contains the requirement that one third of the board of directors be nominated by the "school operation committee." If the GNP wants to avoid being called the "Private School Corruption Defense Party" it should actively cooperate in getting the bill passed.
The Hankyoreh, 14 September 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Will GNP Continue to Ignore Private Univ Reform? |
