The CBNU dormitories have changed the selection rule in 2017. From 2017, the dormitories are going to raise the ratio of freshmen residents to 60%. Besides undergraduates, 6% of residents are graduate students, 15% of residents are international students, and 8% are Korean trainees.
In this regard, the students¡¯ complaints arose that the dormitories should select students with a fair distribution for students¡¯ safety and comfor as well as the development of CBNU.
A CBNU student, Lim Su-jin(¡¯15, Dept. of Urban Engineering) said, ¡°CBNU did not inform us about the change of the regulations in detail. They should have accepted students¡¯ opinions. I felt like I was ignored because they made the rule without any consultation with students. They said that they had held a public hearing to hear students¡¯ voices, but that period was exam season. Thus, many students never received any notice at all. It seems like many students lost their rights to live in a dormitory because of the new rule.¡± In the case of graduate students, compared to last year, only half as many were selected. Even students with a 4.0 GPA failed to make it into the dormitory and are complaining about the unfairness.
An official who is in charge of the dormitories said, ¡°The new rule was already arranged last June, and we collected students¡¯ opinions by holding a public hearing. Then, the final decision was made by the admissions office.
There was a similar controversy in 2010 when all freshmen were able to live in the dormitories dormitory. At that time, according to the CBNU Newspaper, the CBNU headquarters said, ¡°This decision was to increase the admission rate of students and to increase freshmen¡¯s convenience.¡± On the other hand, CBNU students at that time complained, ¡°The students who got more than 4.0 GPA failed to enter the dorm. Even the student who was the president of a dormitory failed, and some students who got the dean¡¯s recommendation failed.¡±
In the case of flagship Korean national universities, most of the dormitories select the same ratio of freshmen and older undergraduates. However, a dormitory in Seoul Women's University(SWU) selected 60% of freshmen, which is the same rate as CBNU. An SWU student, Nam Sang-ji(¡¯15, Dept. of Educational Psychology) said, ¡°In reality, a lot of undergraduates failed to enter a dormitory this semester. As a result, the number of students who had to rent a house or live in a boarding house around school has risen. It is not good to kick undergraduates out of the university. I hope undergraduates will be considered when it comes to adjusting the selection ratio.¡±
Undergraduates have raised their disgruntled voices that the chances to live in a dorm are diminishing as they enter their senior years. Moreover, the abruptly changed selection criteria did not reflect students¡¯ opinions due to insufficient announcements. Students hope their opinions will be reflected fairly in the decisions about where students live.
By Kim Hyo-seon
hs37@cbnu.ac.kr