In the election for the next president of Seoul National University, a series of public interest reports and suspicions of election manipulation are being raised, repeating the 'muddy battle' of past elections.
Some are calling for a special audit, saying the candidate's morality must be thoroughly verified, but there are also some who suspect that the rival candidate raised suspicions to overturn the election at the last minute.
While school members' evaluations of the three presidential candidates for Seoul National University (Professors Jun-ho Kang, Hae-cheon Choi, and Jae-young Lee) are mixed, students react cynically to the presidential election, calling it 'a party only for professors.'
According to the university community on the 4th, the suspicions raised during the Seoul National University presidential election process included matters related to the operation of government-supported education projects, execution of research funds, and fairness of the presidential election procedure.
There were also allegations that some candidates delegated student guidance and teaching tasks to others while running government-supported projects, or received inappropriate research funding, and that they were involved in the selection process for members of the Presidential Recommendation Committee.
The Seoul National University Board of Directors has postponed the interview of three presidential candidates scheduled for the 27th of last month to the 8th of this month.
The reason for the postponement was ‘additional verification of candidates.’
There are mixed views within the school regarding various suspicions.
The Seoul National University Faculty Association issued a statement on the 22nd of last month, saying it respected the Board of Directors' decision to conduct additional verification, but called for a separate special audit at the university headquarters level.
The faculty council emphasized that “being a candidate for president cannot be a reason for exemption from the strict standards applied to rank-and-file professors,” and that it must be clearly confirmed whether the candidates complied with the school regulations.
Lim Jeong-mook, president of the Seoul National University Faculty Council, also expressed his position that strict standards must be applied to presidential candidates in order to secure a minimum level of legitimacy as the next president.
On the other hand, a Seoul National University official recently met with Yonhap News and said about a series of public interest reports, "If there had been truly problematic misconduct, it would have been known a long time ago," and "(the other candidate's side) appears to be making a last-ditch effort."
He said, “This happens because the presidential election is such a sensitive issue,” and raised doubts about the possibility that rival candidates were involved in raising suspicions at the last minute of the election.
However, it has not been confirmed whether a specific candidate was actually involved in reporting public interest.
Another Seoul National University professor also raised issues with repeated reports, saying that some of the suspicions had already been reviewed by the Cold War Committee.
Professor Lee explained the report to the effect that the general cold committee had verified the report regarding research funds and determined that there was no problem.
Regarding the additional tip-off, he insisted that "this is just a matter of negligence or not in handling administrative duties," and emphasized that the board of directors had not decided to conduct a special audit of the candidate.
This is not the first time that the Seoul National University presidential election has been embroiled in controversy surrounding candidate verification.
In the 26th presidential election in 2014, it was pointed out that there was a lot of criticism surrounding the candidates.
At the time, the board of directors took action to ensure fairness by not allowing candidates or third parties to contact directors individually outside of official procedures.
In the 27th presidential election in 2018, controversy over verification actually led to the candidate's defeat.
Professor Daehee Kang of the College of Medicine, who was selected as the final candidate by the Board of Directors at the time, resigned as a candidate when allegations of sexual harassment and harassment and controversy over thesis plagiarism arose.
Criticism was raised that the committee and the board of directors selected the final candidates without sufficiently verifying related suspicions, and the fact that the committee did not receive anonymous reports at the time was also on the chopping block.
In the election that was held again due to Professor Kang's resignation, controversy over candidate slander and fake news arose.
At the time, the Seoul National University Professors' Council also warned professors in an email that they had been confirmed to be slandering candidates through fake news.
Eight years ago, the final candidate withdrew amid criticism that the verification was inadequate, but this time, voices are emerging that are demanding thorough verification and doubting the intention of the report itself.
In this presidential election, the candidate preferences of school members were mixed.
Professor Kang Jun-ho of the College of Education, who ranked first in the policy evaluation on the 14th of last month, scored 169.25 points out of 490, accounting for only 34.5% of the total points.
Professor Hae-cheon Choi of the College of Engineering received 125.15 points (25.5%), and Professor Jae-young Lee of the College of Humanities received 113.11 points (23.1%).
Professor Kang was ahead in the faculty evaluation, but Professor Choi was superior in the student evaluation. However, the proportion of student evaluation reflected was only 9.5% of the total, so Professor Kang ranked first overall.
In the policy evaluation, the preferences of faculty and students are mixed, and the conflict over candidate verification continues, deepening the conflict within the school.
Some students expressed their fatigue, saying that the presidential election had degenerated into a political dispute that had nothing to do with them.
Jeong (26), a graduate student at Seoul National University, said, "Honestly, I don't know what they're doing. It's just a party for professors. They're playing politics among themselves and I'm sick of it."
He continued by criticizing, “All the promises are empty, so will it make a difference who you elect?” and “Didn’t the first-place candidate end up first because he received a lot of support from professors?”
