The 37th General Student Association (GSA) was elected as the GSA of HYU on April 2nd, 2009. A total of 8,681 hanyangians voted. 7,577 hanyangians out of this total voted in favor of SAY which makes it 87.28%. Our interviewees are president and vice president of the new GSA at HYU: SAY

Q: Why did you decide to run for the GSA?
A: Last year, the GSA of HYU voluntarily resigned from their position due to their political activities and the embezzlement of public funds. I am very disappointed with GSAs who run and act for their own benefit. We decided to run for the GSA after looking at these past corrupt GSAs. We started to prepare to run for the GSA in August of last year.

Q: Tell us about your main pledge.
A: Our main pledge is the price stabilization of Wangsimni. We have been contacting many stores and restaurants in Wangsimni. hanyangians will receive numerous discounts from the stores and restaurants in Wangsimni including the stores in Enter 6. We are still in negotiation phase with many places.
Another pledge is implementation of “credit saving policy” which will enable hanyangians to take more than 20 credits per semester if they had taken less than 20 credits during the past semester. This is also in negotiations with HYU. Sungkyunkwan University has already implemented this system last year. We are looking forward to implementation of this system at HYU.

Q: How about the 36th GSA’s debt?
A: Paying for the 36th GSA’s debt had not been stated in the documents which were made for the people running for the GSA.. It was not stated in the document made for people who run for the GSA. 20 million won is a lot of money, and if we have to pay that money, it will suppress our current budget needs placing us in a very difficult position for this year. However, we decided to pay as much as we could of the debt made by the last GSA because it is HYU’s debt. An investigation on this debt to identify where it came from is essential before we pay out any money. If this debt came from the failure of the business activities of the 36th GSA, we will try to pay for it. If the debt was a result of the 36th GSA’s embezzlement then they will be responsible for it.

                                
Q: The President and the Vice-president mentioned they would donate scholarships given to them to the society, is this true?
A: Yes, one of our pledges was that we would donate all scholarships receive to the society. We predict that the amount of money will be around 16 million won. All of it will be donated to the society.

Q: How is it going to be donated?
A: We actually had a discussion about this, and we concluded that we would run a contest among hanyangians on how to use this money. After receiving opinions from hanyangians on how and where to donate this money, we would make a decision on the disbursement. This procedure is appropriate because one of the purposes for this was to repair HYU’s reputation. It would be correct to get hanyangians’ opinion on this.

Q: Are you going to be involved in any political activities?
A: No, absolutely not. One of the criticisms of the 36th GSA of HYU was that they were involved in political activities when they said they would not be. We exist only for the students of HYU and we will not be involved in any political activities what so ever.

Q: You do not have any experience running for any students’ activities. How are you going to overcome the challenges which come from lack of experience?
A: The ability of the president of the GSA is not the only a factor which will determine the success of the 37th GSA. We will need the help and cooperation from the presidents of every departments and all faculty. With a loving and caring mind for HYU and all hanyangians, we will do our best to overcome this lack of experience issue.

Q: What will you do if embezzlement happens in 37th GSA?
A: It will never happen. Transparency is one of our pledges. The 37th GSA will periodically be financially audited by the hanyangians who have a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) degree or who are seniors in the School of Business. The expenditure of 37th GSA will be opened to hanyangians. We will address this through the community bulletin board of HYU’s website or through student emails.

Q: What would you like to say to the hanyangians?
A: I would want to thank all of the students who believed in us and gave us a vote. They gave us an opportunity. We will literally do our best! Although we lack experience, we will try our best in order to keep all our pledges and not disappoint hanyangians.