The Crisis of Seorabeol Hall Building, Will It Be Okay?
On October 1st, the student council of the College of Humanities held a student assembly under the theme ‘Securing the Educational Environment of Seorabeol Hall’. Kang Hyun-koo, president of the student council at the College of Humanities, said he would deliver the student’s demands to the Chung-Ang university headquarters. The council’s demands include detailed plans on improving the educational environment in Seorabeol Hall, ensuring the environment of lectures suitable for humanities majors, and securing insufficient education space and student autonomy. The demand item was approved by 244 students in favor, 0 against and 6 abstaining from the 250 total students attending the student assembly. During the student council meeting on that day, an active discussion took place over the educational environment of Seorabeol Hall, and the need for improvement was emphasized. Then let's find out what problems exist in Seorabeol Hall with CAH.
Current Problems of Seorabeol Building
a. Deteriorated Facilities
The Seorabeol Hall (203 Building), in which students of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences have their major classes, began to be used when the University of Seorabeol Arts and Chung-Ang University merged in 1972. Originally, it was a law school building named ‘JinSeonGwan’, but its name was changed to the current ‘Seorabeol Hall’ when the extension was made in 1989. Seorabeol Hall contains the history of Chung-Ang University, but it is currently plagued by facilities that are as old as its years. On May 16th of last year, students and professors were forced to move to a different lecture hall when torrential rains leaked through the ceiling of Seorabeol Hall 814. The professor in charge of the class testified that the leak problem had been a recurring issue. The leak was found to be the cause of the damage to some of the pipes of air conditioners installed on the ceiling, but the students taking the class demanded an inspection, pointing out that the fallout of the entire Seorabeol Hall building was the root cause. Also, according to a survey of student satisfaction conducted by CAU newspaper last year, students at humanities colleges were relatively less satisfied in terms of the educational environment. The main cause of this low level of satisfaction was found to be the dilapidated facilities, such as some older conventional restrooms and high humidity in the semi-underground practice rooms.
b. Safety Threat
The lift at Seorabeol Hall, which was first set up in April 2010, was suspended three times, on March 7th, 8th and 11th, of this year. An official from the facility team said, "The inspection results showed that the components were not working due to old age, which caused the malfunction". As concerns among students continued, official explained that they are checking the elevator once a month and planning to replace old parts gradually. The malfunction of the elevator is a sensitive issue directly linked to the safety of students, which requires careful management from the school.
CCTV, which is a basic device to guarantee the students’ safety, is also the one of the serious problems. Six cases of locker theft took place in Seorabeol Hall in April and May. However, since there are no CCTVs around the locker, it is hard to determine the factual circumstances when a theft occurs, let alone to search for the culprit. The concerns being raised over the lack of security at Seorabeol Hall are not the first of their kind. In 2017, there were two incidents of sighting men in women's restrooms on the seventh and eighth floors. After these incidents, the school installed one new CCTV on each floor lobby and replaced 11 existing CCTVs to compensate for the problems. Nevertheless, the number of CCTVs is far from sufficient, as security problems still exist in blind spot areas. Therefore, the security of the Seorabeol Hall should be strengthened through the improvement of the prevention facilities to protect the safety of students.
c. Infringement of Learning Rights
Currently, there are about 220 major classes opened at the College of Humanities, but only 20 classrooms are held within Seorabeol Hall. The classrooms where most students from humanities and social science universities take their major classes are allocated with a combination of the Seorabeol Hall and other buildings. The problem is caused by a lack of classrooms in Seorabeol Hall. Such frequent use of other buildings has caused students at humanities colleges to experience inconvenience due to the distance traveled between classes. When the students demanded a guarantee of their right to study, the university's headquarters in September came under intense criticism for offering an answer that it would expand the number of students taking a lecture. Essentially, it is necessary to secure sufficient number of classrooms to ensure study rights. Therefore, schools need to push for a pleasant classroom to prevent students' right to study from being violated, which is the most basic right.
Student Interview
a. President of the Student Council of the German Language and Literature Department
Q1. In which building is your major lecture currently being held?
Lee : I am currently taking a leave of absence, but last semester my major lectures were in various buildings, including the Seorabeol Hall, the Law School building, and the Blue Mir Hall 2 (Dormitory).
Q2. Are you satisfied with the facilities of Seorabeol Hall? If not, what made you uncomfortable?
Lee : I'm not satisfied. There are many problems in Seorabeol Hall, including poor major lecture environment, insufficient student autonomy space, and unnecessary corridor rest areas. And I think there's also a fundamental problem where the rights of the disabled to move are not guaranteed because there are layers that the elevator cannot access.
Q3. Is there anything you would like to ask from the school regarding Seorabeol Hall?
Lee : Although the fundamental issues mentioned above must be addressed, I think the first thing we need from schools is to ensure a suitable environment for our major lectures. There should be a learning environment where there is no inconvenience in listening to lectures. I hope the school will take proper measures regarding the Seorabeol Hall as soon as possible.
b. 1st Grade Student of Social Welfare Department
Q1. In which building is your major lecture currently being held?
Hong : Last semester, there were two major classes held in the Law School building and Seorabeol Hall. And now I am taking all the social welfare department major classes at the Law School building.
Q2. Are you satisfied with the facilities of Seorabeol Hall? If not, what made you uncomfortable?
Hong : I'm not very satisfied. First of all, as the building itself is old, I think the overall interior of Seorabeol Hall is more outdated than other buildings. To talk about the inconvenience, I felt that most of the classrooms in Seorabeol Hall were very small, which not only made it impossible to move smoothly, but also hindered the concentration of class.
Q3. Is there anything you would like to ask from the school regarding Seorabeol Hall?
Hong : I think the fundamental problem with the facilities of Seorabeol Hall lies in the old age of the building itself. Therefore, although it is unlikely that the school will make a full-scale improvement of the building immediately, I hope that the school will gradually improve its internal design, such as toilets and lecture rooms, to ease the inconvenience of students using the Seorabeol Hall.
As such, various problems with the Seorabeol Hall have been continuously pointed out. The poor educational environment is a serious problem that can not only greatly affect the basic rights of students but also threaten their safety. Therefore, the school should listen to the students' specific inconveniences and make up for the problems of the Seorabeol Hall based on them. If the improvement of the Seorabeol Hall is successful, it is expected to result in the improvement of the satisfaction of countless Chung-Ang University students using the building.
Sim Seong-a
tlatjddk2019@cau.ac.kr