On September 30, 2019, Student Council announced the cancellation of the Fall 2019 Membership Training (M.T.) trip to the Mason Korea student body via Kakao Talk. The announcement was made by the Student Council Event Representative Hwan Gyu Bae (‘21 Business Management), who attributed this cancellation to a “lack of participation.” The cancellation of the Membership Training follows the recision of the welcoming party that takes place at the beginning of each semester, which was also accounted to the lack of student body participation. Furthermore, the Office of Student Affairs has recently taken charge of the annual university letterman jackets, with their first email regarding the orders sent on October 29 to the student body. The design and distribution of the annual jackets had been the role of Student Council prior to the 2019 Fall semester, and the reasoning for this change has not been given any public explanations.
Several of the so-called staple events of Student Council have yet to make an appearance this season. For starters, the Cultural Language Exchange and Open Meeting have not been open to the student body. The Cultural Language Exchange, revamped and introduced as Cultural Exchange Event, has served as the main intercultural promotional activity for the past three Student Councils. The event was cancelled on September 29 due to a “lack of participation,” though there had been no prior promotion that are standard for Student Council events. While the Council’s decision to call off the Open Meeting has not been publicly announced, it was confirmed by an anonymous Student Council member, who said, “the only reason why we conducted the Open Meeting last semester was because the Student Affairs pushed us to do so, but there hasn’t been the same pressure this semester. Unless that happens, the meeting will most likely not happen.”
So the question remains: What exactly is Student Council’s role?
There’s a lot that could be said about the seemingly sudden nullification of so many standard Student Council activities — lack of student participation, to begin with. Every cancellation that has been announced on the Mason Korea Kakao Talk group chat since the beginning of the Fall 2019 semester has been attributed to a “lack of participation.” Limited funding from Student Affairs could be another explanation, though it would be difficult to make that same rationalization when there has been no budget reformation since last year.
If so, perhaps the question would be better understood as: How is Student Council different from other Student Leadership positions? In an interview with The Voice, Student Council President Geunho Yoon (‘22 Business Management) stated that the objective of this year’s Student Council.
Written by Yihyun Kwon|Managing Editor
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