The current organizational change that will develop across the months will be a model similar to how University of Utah Asia Campus (UAC) and Ghent University Global Campus (GUGC) has been operating its institution. Instead of a President representing the school, there will be a Dean who will be in charge of tasks that former President Lee has performed across the years. The alteration has a goal of helping GMUK to feel that we are part of the big university and no longer a separate entity. The Dean will function as a Dean of a college, as seen in Fairfax. The remaining Deans who have been part of the institution since will possibly be name associate deans and execute the same work they have been undertaking.
Dean Crist said, “This organizational change is an opportunity to rethink how to deploy resources to improve the qualities of the program…and nothing is un-precedential,” referring to the models of UAC and GUGC. Be that as it may, Dean Crist’s quote brought critical questions to the students. Joshua Cho, a Global Affairs and Conflict Analysis and Resolution freshman, questioned if the resources we possessed before were not spent efficiently. Yet he suggested that this would be a chance to rethink how we spend resources and focus only on the things we really need. Dr. Kurtz, a sociology professor, added to the idea that, “universities are always struggling to attain enough resources.” However, he supposed that there might have been differences of opinion when it came to how President Lee had decided to use the resources, denoting the period of time when the school celebrated the payoff of debt. An anonymous Management senior mentioned that in a business perspective, despite the investment, the outcome has not been clear the past three years. Further, the anonymous speaker indicated that Fairfax could be wanting GMUK to follow its investment model that GMU initiated in 2007, which led to explosive increments of growth. Yet, with the unclear picture of how this will play out, Yihyun Kwon, a Conflict Analysis and Resolution freshman said, “I can see that it can bring change. It is a change that we could have been unconsciously waiting for. But we need to be clear with the objectives and bring detailed steps to be shared with more students.”
The shocking report of President Lee’s resign opens students’ eyes to new horizons and a variety of skeptical, but hopeful, questions. Young Seo Park, a Conflict Analysis and Resolution freshman said, “Students need to speak out, asking questions to the faculty, staff, and Fairfax, showing that we are concerned of the issue.” Sunghun Jang, an Economics junior, continued by saying, “The interest in the issue is the trigger to progress.” On the faculty side, Dr. Kwak, an Economics professor, said, “The ownership of the university, consisting of faculty, students of GMUK, and the Fairfax administration must come together on a common consensus, engaging in more communication.” The interim leadership of GMUK promised at the meeting that they will be responsive to what seems right to us. Thus, our input as students is evermore important.
Seihoon Lee | Secretary
Well written! As these young scholars pointed out, they need to collect their voices to provide constructive input with this opportunity. The campus is a structure created for the students. March forward!