( Photo credit: GMUK )
When campaigning to become the Student Council president in the Fall 2019 semester, Minsoo Chung (Economics, ‘21) outlined one of his primary goals would be to improve the transparency of Student Council activities. To achieve this goal the Student Council has been busy gathering opinions from the student body to make informed decisions on reforming the structure of the Student Council. He described these changes in an interview conducted with The Voice.
When asked about the successes during the Spring 2020 semester in terms of communication and transparency, Minsoo explained that the Student Council “focused on expanding the quality and quantity of various communication channels.” Since a lot of students were confused with the changed policies resulting from the COVID-19, the Student Council actively communicated with the student body, the Office of Student Affairs and Career Development, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the Office of Executive Administration. As a result, the Office of Academic Affairs announced an extended deadline for the Courses’ Add/Drop period for Spring 2020.
Additionally, the Student Council has also gone through internal reform by opening up new positions including Finance and Transparency Manager as well as a Public Relations Manager. Minsoo described that the student body will have access to budget records as the Council will be organizing regular public hearing sessions because of these new positions. Through these new initiatives, it appears that he has been making good on his campaign promises of the past.
Despite the Student Council’s efforts, they could not avoid all criticisms from the student body. On the app Every Time, some students have expressed their complaints by using the application’s feature, Anonymous, to voice their concerns regarding a variety of issues. In response, the Student Council has actively reviewed these criticisms in hopes to improve relations between the student body and the Student Council.
Overall, Minsoo concluded the interview by highlighting his wish that the Student Council can be “recognized as one of the most advanced organizations that students can rely on.” If the president and the rest of the Mason Korea Student Council can continue to actively improve communication and transparency, this wish might be realized.
Written by Minwoo Park | Staff Writer
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