[Editorial] Student Activism Transformed

Hwang Na-yeol, who was elected as the 49th Chairman of the Seoul National University Student Council, has been on the spotlight for his unusual profile that includes construction work, cabbage selling, mixed martial arts fighting, and dancing. It also includes non-activist promises. Unlike other activist candidates who vowed to oppose SNU’s transformation into a legal corporate entity, or the solution to bipolarization, Hwang pushed for changes in SNU’s image and to solve employment and welfare issues. In particular, his vow to forbid demonstrations in the plaza in front of the library resuscitated the basic concept that students are supposed to study.

It has been the tradition of student activists after the 1980s to beat drums and yell out slogans in front of the library. Many of the 386-generation student activists that grabbed microphones at Acropolis Plaza in front of the SNU library participated in the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments. Chung Tae-in, who attended SNU from 1978 to 1983, and was a secretary of President Roh, recently commented about the 386-generation student activists, “They have a sense of justice, but they don’t know much, and don’t have expertise.”

The character of the activists that held demonstrations in front of the library, hence interfering with those studying, divided the present Korean society into 20 against 80, led the country to a collective lower-level standardization, and considers extreme struggle as true “justice.” The reason why the Roh administration could not surpass the potential economic growth rate during the past three years, and even SNU graduates cannot find a job, is not unrelated to the activists’ politics of the “same code.”

The election of Hwang can be seen as a refusal declaration by younger generation of the 21st Century sending to the 386-generation stuck in ideology. As Hwang gained the support of the students by promising to install water coolers and transportation-card chargers on campus, the young generation is realistic. The students who elected Hwang, who vowed to resign from the conservative ideological group Korea University Students Union, despise blind struggle.

Hwang will lead a small student council saying, “The era of and justification has passed, so the status and role of the student council should also be changed.” This is also a paradigm that should be adapted to the society and nation. The Korean people do not want a belligerent activist government. They want a pragmatic and capable small government.