By Bahk Eun-ji

Students of Chung-Ang University (CAU) are calling on the school to stop refusing to give scholarships to students disciplined for protesting against school policies.

A students’ association ― the “Students Gathering Concerned About CAU’s Democracy” ― held a rally Monday saying the school created a so-called “blacklist” of students’ disciplinary records to restrict the provision of scholarships since 2012.

They claim that the school is using the scholarships as a tool to block students from joining rallies protesting school policies.

For example, Pyo Seok, a student in the department of Korean literature, was entitled to a scholarship as he met academic performance standards. He took third-place in his department with a 4.1 GPA last semester. However, the school didn’t grant it, saying he was the subject of a disciplinary measure in 2010.

Pyo was suspended from school at that time after he attended a demonstration to protest the school’s “corporate-style” restructuring plans.

“The school is using scholarships to silence students who criticize the school’s wrong policies,” he said during Monday’s rally.

After Doosan Group, one of the nation’s largest conglomerates, took over the school in 2008, the university has integrated departments in the name of strengthening its competitiveness.

Since the business-centered Park Yong-sung, a chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, became the chairman of the board of trustees, he has pushed for changes with “corporate-style” reforms.

Noh Young-soo, a 32-year-old student at the school, also said he was even stripped of a scholarship awarded from an outside organization. Roh also participated in a demonstration with Pyo in 2010.

Noh insisted the school didn’t provide the state scholarship.

Other universities also restrict scholarships to students who have been slapped with disciplinary measures, but the ban is only limited to the following semester.

The school said it is looking into its scholarship regulations, which were introduced in 2012, to determine if they need revision.

“If we need to revise the regulation, we are going to change them,” said Yoon Ji-myung, a manager on the communications team at CAU. “But we don’t have any blacklist of students.”

In the regulations, the period to apply any scholarship restrictions for disciplined students is not specified, he said.
eunji.bk@koreatimes.co.kr