Enamuh, an online bookstore affiliated with George Mason University Korea, provides Mason Korea students the access to purchase required textbooks.
Photo Credit: Enamuh
With the start of the Spring 2021 semester, students’ complaints of purchasing textbooks have rapidly filled the air. The situation was first introduced when international students were restricted from international transacting when purchasing textbooks from Enamuh, a bookseller affiliated with the school. The issue continued to escalate as the weeks unfold when students realized that their ordered materials from Enamuh had not yet arrived. As the whole student body depends on texts that are primarily provided by this online retailer, these issues bring new light to an old problem: Mason Korea does not have an effective system for providing students with the textbooks they need for their classes on time.
Among the list of struggles that international students faced, purchasing textbooks from Enamuh has been one of the greatest. Maggie Ruble (Marketing, ‘23), shared her experience of seeking assistance from her professor. Ruble stated that “several people in [my] classes tried to access Enamuh, but they also had to go through other people to order their textbooks,” indicating that all of her peers were equally disadvantaged. Summer Brown (Conflict Analysis and Resolution & Korean, ‘22), was also under the same predicament as Ruble, seeking an alternative seller that approves foreign transactions. Nonetheless, looking for an alternative vendor only resulted in more troubles. LJ Haider (Global Affairs, ‘23), the International Student Representative, also shared his familiarity with the subject that many students sought him out for assistance; however, he was not able to help them with this specific problem as an international student himself. Yet, Haider suggested that students check their emails frequently, as they have been informed of being allowed to transfer cash to Enamuh via KB bank’s ATM located in the Songdo Hyundai Premium outlet.
The conflict intensified after the payment was made when students waited until the arrival of their assigned texts. Payment in Enamuh, although it can be troublesome, can be managed, however, waiting for textbooks to be delivered is outside the control of the student body. Minji Ko (Global Affairs, ‘23) pointed out that complications in delivering textbooks impacted Korean students as well. Despite ordering four of her English textbooks on Enamuh a week before school started, Ko has not received her textbooks six weeks later. In her classes, Ko is only one of many experiencing the same issues indicating it as a systematic failure. In regards to this issue, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Yorgun Marcel, had this to say, “The issue of books has been an ongoing dilemma. I believe two or three semesters ago we came up with the Enamuh model. We introduced it in the middle of COVID so we never had a normal rollout or test period for it… The question we want to ask is ‘Is the delivery issues the problem of Enamuh itself and their shipping protocols or is it the protocols of COVID because there is a lot less shipping.’ For now, we are going back to Enamuh and asking why there are such long delays.”
While there are numerous problems with the textbook ordering process, the faculty leadership of Mason Korea is at least aware of the issue. In an interview with The Voice, Campus Dean Robert Matz outlined the ongoing problems, “Over the last year we have been trying to improve the book ordering process. We still have a ways to go to address this issue... The steps that we took this year were to work with the IGC to get them to work with Enamuh to put more of its site in English. Particularly the ordering section. And they did some of that. That still wasn't enough... We [Mason Korea leadership] discovered there were still issues.” When asked about the possibility of a textbook store on campus, Matz confirmed that this was unlikely to occur as both the IGC Foundation and Mason Korea conducted independent reviews and found that such a move would be financially unstable. Instead, he emphasized the importance for students and professors to communicate sooner to help alleviate these issues. However, if ordering textbooks are considered the most difficult task in passing a class at Mason Korea, substantial change is required. While it remains unclear what that change could be, it is clear that the student body of Mason Korea deserves an improved system to receive the materials for success.
Dawn Oh, Staff Writer
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