Dongduk Women's University Student Council: "87.5% of Students Oppose School Regulation Amendment Removing 'Women'"

Dongduk Women's University attempted to remove the words "women" and "founding spirit" from its school regulations without gathering student opinions, prompting the Student Council to call for an immediate halt to the unilateral amendment of the regulations.

On the 9th, in front of the main building of Dongduk Women's University Wolgok Campus in Seoul, participants including the Dongduk Women's University Student Council held placards opposing the forced amendment of school regulations through notification at the press conference announcing the survey results related to the revision of school regulations. Photo by Yonhap News

On the morning of January 9, in front of the main building of Wolgok Campus in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, the 59th Dongduk Women's University Student Council announced the results of a survey on the amendment of school regulations, stating, "Amending the school regulations and pushing forward with development plans without collecting student opinions seriously undermines the democracy and legitimacy of university operations."

According to the survey conducted by the Student Council from January 4 to 8 with 615 enrolled and on-leave students, 87.5% of respondents opposed the removal of the words "women" and "founding spirit." Additionally, 70.1% opposed the academic restructuring plan proposed by the university administration.

The proposed amendment to the school regulations includes removing "women" from the phrase "training women professionals with intelligence and virtue" and reducing "founding spirit and educational philosophy" to simply "educational philosophy." The Student Council criticized this as a preliminary step toward transitioning to coeducation, stating, "For a university that has upheld the training of women professionals as its core value since its founding in 1950, this is an act of denying its own identity even before transitioning to coeducation."

On January 2, the university administration presented four agenda items to the student body for discussion at the University Council: ▲ 2025 supplementary budget consultation ▲ review of graduate school regulations amendment ▲ review of the transition to coeducation and university development plan ▲ review of the university regulations amendment. Among these, the university development plan was announced without any procedure for collecting student opinions. Although the Student Council requested detailed information on December 24, 2025, they had not received a response when the agenda was submitted to the University Council.

The Student Council stated, "There can be no development without students, and changes that exclude students can never be justified," adding, "We will continue to take action to ensure that students' voices are meaningfully reflected at the upcoming University Council meeting on January 12."