In Fall 2016, a number of students took action to structure the GMUK Student Council with the purpose of enhancing communication between the university and the students, diminishing misunderstandings, and improving the school community. From that point on, the Student Council has been an authorized student group to act on any school issues and perform as an official bridge. Despite the recent controversy over the management of the MT(Membership Training) and the letterman jackets, the Student Council reveals their goals to become a more competent organization. The newly elected President, Jisu Lee (Business, Sophomore), and Vice President, Sang Hyun Choi (Business, Sophomore) answered some questions from The Voice.
Q: What are our specific roles as President and Vice President?
A: Jisu Lee : "As President, I am in charge of the academic branch. I focus on academic affairs and consistently communicate with the students, and Mason Korea Academic Affairs (MKAA). As we also have members who represent each major; each representative and I work closely together when a student has a concern with a class, professor, or any general academic questions.”
Sang Hyun Choi : "As Vice President, I supervise the residence life, which includes the campus and dormitory life. I am also in charge of RSO fairs, sports, and any international student affairs. In addition, I want to add that although Jisu and I are responsible for two different branches, we often collaborate and attend crucial meetings together. For instance, we regularly meet with schools from IGC and the IGC foundation for uprising conflicts or security issues in residence life."
Q: Have you successfully fulfilled your roles as President and Vice President?
A: “Even though our roles are officially separated into two branches, we often work together. The truth is, we first followed the footsteps of the previous Student Council by adopting the two branch system. However, it makes more sense for us to work as a team. We don’t want to separate our duties and we are also very dependent on each other to bring out the best outcome. Moreover, there has been many trials and errors to structure this Student Council, such as having new representatives for different departments, like the RSO, Sports and Event representative. Although we sometimes encounter hardships, we believe we are fulfilling our roles successfully to become a more competent Student Council.”
Q: What are your goals and future plans as President and Vice President for Student Council?
A: "Our biggest goal is to have students come to us for questions and more participation. We heard that some freshmen feel uneasy to reach out to us. It might be because of our heavy title, but we want all students to take full advantage of our service. We greatly appreciate all comments, whether they are positive or negative, because it gives us a chance to improve. We were actually thinking of re-introducing the Student Council so that students know who we are and what we do. Ultimately, we are asking for more participation and attention from the students. Thankfully, approximately 90 students joined the MT trip and 130 students joined the Freshman Welcoming Event. Also, the RSO Fair was pretty successful. We appreciate the students’ cooperation and attention to those events and hope to see more Patriots at the upcoming Mason Baseball Night and Mason Day. Unfortunately, we saw fewer people participating during the Spirit Week, but we understand it may be embarrassing because some students are not used to them. However, we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy their college lives with other fellow students through such events. It’s college, and it’s supposed to be fun!"
Q: Do you have any messages for the students?
A: "Again, we want students to take advantage of us. Even though being a part of the Student Council has always been voluntary, we are working hard to improve and represent the school. We do not want students to feel separated from us, because we are here for them. We believe having more communication between the Student Council and the students is vital for improvement. One of the ways to reach out to us is by participating in our "Open Meeting" event that happens every third Monday of the month. We welcome students to come and observe the meeting, and have a Q&A session at the end. So, please don’t hesitate to express your opinions. Also, please follow us on Instagram (@2018_SC_GMUK) for more Student Council news!"
Jeonghyun Lee | Reporter
jlee178@masonlive.gmu.edu
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