By Lee Hyo-sik
Students from major private universities are threatening joint class boycotts, forming alliances with civic groups and holding candlelit rallies in their campaign to cut tuition costs by half.
Student leaders at Korea University and three other private schools in Seoul held a joint press conference at Ewha Womans University in western Seoul Tuesday, demanding President Lee Myung-bak deliver on a campaign pledge to halve tuition.
Their move, supported by even some lawmakers from the ruling Grand National Party, is emerging as a major political and social issue.
They said they will jointly push for a one-day class boycott on June 10 as a show of their determination to have costs of university education dramatically slashed.
The four schools involved are Korea, Ewha Womans, Sogang and Sookmyung Women’s universities.
Student leaders said they will hold a ballot on either June 8 or 9 for all registered students to decide whether to hold the one-day boycott.
If the majority of students approve of the action, they will collectively refuse to attend classes scheduled between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on June 10 and take part in a nighttime candlelit rally in downtown Seoul. June 10 is the 24th anniversary of the 1987 democratization movement that triggered democratic reforms.
“It’s been over three years since university students hit the streets, with some of them shaving their heads to demand the Lee administration keep its promise of halving university tuition. But the government has been lying to us for all these years,” Sogang University student council President Kim Jun-han and three other leaders said in a joint statement.
They said skyrocketing tuition does not affect only a small number of students.
“It is an issue involving all university students. Only if all of us join forces can we bring about results. Now it is time for us to boycott classes and take our cause to the streets as the world watches us,” the statement said.
The move came days after student leaders at Hanshin University in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, organized a one-day boycott of classes, which largely failed to achieve its intended goal.
On June 2, the university’s student council asked students not to attend classes in protest of the school’s decision to raise tuition. But most students attended lectures.
Hanshin students and school management have been at odds over the tuition hike for this year. Students wanted tuition to be frozen at last year’s level, while the school wanted to increase it by 3.4 percent.
Members of the Korean University Student Association and various liberal civic groups held candlelit rallies at Gwanghwamun Plaza, central Seoul, Tuesday, for the 10th straight day despite warnings from the city and police.
The city administration refused to grant permission to rally organizers earlier, arguing the gathering could turn violent and cause inconvenience to citizens.
The Democratic Party (DP) and other opposition parties along with civic groups have been supporting the students.
Among the civic groups expressing solidarity for the drive to cut tuition are the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, the National Association of Parents for Cham-Education, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and religious groups.
On June 6, DP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and other key party officials participated in a rally with civic group members in support of the protesting students. Sohn told demonstrators that the opposition party will find a way to cut university tuition by half
