Last Friday, some 400 students of state-run universities across South Korea held a joint protest supporting the direct voting system of college presidents by professors.

While the students themselves were not direct beneficiaries of the system, they said that the Education Ministry’s plan to implement indirect voting infringes on the autonomy of higher education institutes.

“The ministry is tearing down the very principles of democracy, which is that members of an organization have the right to pick their own representatives. They are threatening the state universities by saying they will not provide financial subsidies,” student bodies of 15 universities said in their statement.

There has been dispute among the education circles over how a college head should be elected. The now-nearly extinct direct voting system lets professors select the president, while the ministry-encouraged indirect system runs through an election committee ― a randomly-selected committee of students, teaching assistants, faculty and other employees of the university.

Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea said in last month’s parliamentary audit that he would review the pros and cons of both systems, although he stopped short of giving a definitive answer.

The focal point of the controversy is whether or not the ministry’s pressure to abolish the direct system intrudes upon universities’ autonomy, and which of the two systems is more effective.

It was former President Lee Myung-bak who set the wheels in motion in 2010 with his plan to “advance the operations of state universities,” which included abolishing the direct election system. The Lee administration pointed out that direct election sparked numerous side effects, such as overheated campaigning that leads to excessive pledges and factions on the campus.

The Park administration subsequently announced that national universities that do not adopt the indirect system would be penalized in the “University for Creative Korea” government funding, or the CK program.

Too much government intervention?

South Korea grants partial autonomy for higher education institutes. While the general operations of respective universities ― including personnel decisions ― are left to respective institutes, the government sets the overall agenda for the admission process while stepping in for cases like banning sex offenders from teaching at universities.

While the school boards of private universities choose the method to use for the election of the president, state-run universities are more vulnerable to the ministry’s influence as the appointment has to be confirmed by President Park Geun-hye.

Even private universities are not free from governmental influence, as refusing to follow government decisions can deprive them of state subsidies, which account for a significant portion of the schools’ budgets.

Proponents of the direct election system says “coercing” national universities to follow the ministry’s measure by threatening to cut support violates their autonomy.

Rep. Bae Jae-jeung of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy accused the ministry of “taming the universities” with threats of subsidy cuts. She also bashed the ministry for saying that it could pull some of the Creative Korea funds paid to Pusan National University, which recently decided to switch back to the direct election system after one of its professors committed suicide in protest of the opposing system.

The incident, which occurred in August amid a mass protest by PNU faculty members, uprooted the university’s original decision to abolish direct voting.

A survey by Rep. Cho Jeong-sik of the NPAD showed that many of state-run universities’ chiefs opposed linking the voting system to government subsidies.

“Penalizing the universities in government programs unless they follow the ministry’s guidelines is inadvisable. If there are problems during the university-selected election process, then the government should penalize them,” said PNU chief Kim.

Choi Sung-eul, head of Incheon National University, also said it is ideal to let universities choose the voting system based on their respective circumstances.

Pros and cons of the two system

Proponents of the indirect election system point out that direct voting has many flaws.

“Excessive campaigning led to the candidates making all kinds of pledges, which had side effects such as tuition hikes, factionalism and hindering the colleges’ long-term plans. The nepotism that resulted has also led to inefficient personnel decisions,” said an official from the Education Ministry.

In addition, there has been criticism that the “direct” election only applies to professors and not regular employees or students.

Despite its flaws, however, opponents of the indirect system say that it is not an appropriate alternative.

Jeong, Yong-gil, a professor of Chungnam National University, took issue with the random selection process of the committee. In his recent column, he pointed out that the lottery-type selection process is completely based on chance, meaning a newly appointed faculty member who knows very little about the school can be a member.

“In order for an election to work, the voter has to have sufficient information about the candidates. The indirect system eliminates the possibility of an informed choice because it is based on luck,” he said.

Jeong claimed that the ministry’s insistence on the indirect system is just an excuse to tighten the grasp around the universities, pointing out that the ministry has refused to approve the elected presidents for Kyungpook National University, Kongju National University and Korea National Open University, who were selected via an indirect voting system.

These universities are currently locked in legal battles with the ministry, which have shown mixed results. Seoul High Court ruled in favor of the ministry for the KNOU case, while the appellate court for the KNU case ruled against it. Seoul Administrative Court in August ruled in favor of the university, leaving the burden on the Supreme Court.

Jeong’s CNU is expected to hold a vote on its presidential election system later this week.

Regardless of whether or not the Education Ministry is guilty of attempting to become a “Big Brother,” the university president’s selection process is likely to continue to rattle education circles.

Rep. Shin Sung-bum of the ruling Saenuri Pary said while there have been many side effects of the direct election system, he is unsure which is better.

Cheonnam National University president Jee Byung-moon said although the ministry is pushing to abolish the direct voting system, he is “skeptical” that indirect elections are an ideal appropriate alternative. “We need to work on creating a system that can assure both the universities’ autonomy and a fair selection process,” he said.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)