Cheongam College Receives Ministry of Education Approval to Convene Corporate Board Meeting... Expectation for Normalization of School Operations

New Chairman Expected to Be Elected... School Foundation Management Likely to Normalize

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] The reality that local universities are struggling to fill their quotas due to a sharp decline in student numbers became even more evident in this year's admissions.

Only a handful of universities exceeded 80% of their quotas, with many universities facing threats to their survival with enrollment rates below 70%.

During these difficult times, Cheongam University, a prestigious private university in the region, has been engulfed in a serious internal conflict since the end of last year, and its repercussions are spreading beyond the university community to the local civil society.

The direct trigger of the internal conflict at Cheongam University began at the board meeting on December 16 of last year.

At that time, the term of former chairman Kang, the third-generation founder of Cheongam Foundation, expired, and Director Kim was resolved to take over as chairman.

After his inauguration, Chairman Kim convened a board meeting and unexpectedly put forward and passed a motion to suspend President Seo Hyung-won, which was not on the official agenda, and appointed Professor Kim as acting president.

The reason for President Seo's suspension was that he did not take appropriate measures during the reinstatement process of Professor Kim and others who were reinstated in September of last year.

Chairman Kim even invited a lawyer who had been handling complaints and legal lawsuits from the reinstated professors to the board meeting, which further escalated some controversies.

Moreover, Chairman Kim appointed Professor Kim as acting president without a board resolution, despite multiple complaints and legal disputes involving Professor Kim.

The appointment of Professor Kim as acting president was an unexpected and sudden move, placing the person who raised complaints about the university's reinstatement procedures in the acting president position just three months after reinstatement.

Meanwhile, some have evaluated that Chairman Kim's dismissal of the corporate office director via KakaoTalk and appointment of a reporter as the new corporate office director without any hiring process was an attempt by Chairman Kim to establish a personnel system to unilaterally control the university and the foundation.

In response to these developments, the majority of faculty and staff, centered around the Cheongam University faculty and staff union, strongly opposed and demanded Chairman Kim's resignation and President Seo's reinstatement.

A university official, Mr. A, said, "Most of the directors who sympathized with the voices of the university members (5 out of 6 sitting directors) demanded the reaffirmation of the chairman and the cancellation of the president's suspension at an emergency board meeting held on December 29 last year." He added, "Chairman Kim declared the meeting adjourned unilaterally and left, saying he could not accept this."

After Chairman Kim left, the remaining five attending directors appointed a temporary chairperson, continued the board meeting, passed a resolution to cancel President Seo's suspension, and elected Director Kang Sabum, the third-generation founder, as the new chairman.

With this board resolution, President Seo Hyung-won returned to his duties, calming the unrest among Cheongam University faculty and staff and stabilizing academic operations.

However, despite the critical timing for university admissions, the turmoil continued with claims in the media that former President Kang was colluding with President Seo to manipulate the faculty union and majority directors to take control of the university.

Meanwhile, it was alleged that Chairman Kim's side filed lawsuits against President Seo and union-active professors for defamation and obstruction of business, and also threatened to sue foundation staff and directors.

University official Mr. A stated, "Despite ongoing malicious media reports and lawsuits from Chairman Kim's side, Cheongam Foundation directors and faculty and staff have been suffering silently as they could not confront these issues head-on ahead of university admissions, accreditation, and competency evaluations."

In addition, when Chairman Kang convened a board meeting in January, Chairman Kim's side filed a provisional injunction to prohibit the meeting, and the court ruled that the meeting convened by Chairman Kang could not be held due to procedural defects in the election of the new chairman.

Accordingly, the majority of Cheongam Foundation directors, in accordance with the Private School Act and Cheongam Foundation's articles of association, requested Chairman Kim on January 22 to convene a board meeting specifying the reaffirmation of the chairman and major university agenda items.

Furthermore, these majority directors applied to the Ministry of Education for approval to convene the board meeting in February and March under Article 17 of the Private School Act.

A university official said, "The Ministry of Education received the application for approval to convene the board meeting according to legal regulations and advised the majority directors and Chairman Kim to seek an amicable compromise before granting approval."

As a result, attempts at negotiation were made, but it seems difficult to reach an agreement.

University official Mr. A said, "Chairman Kim's side appears to be implying that the condition for holding the board meeting is to appoint former Cheongam Foundation director Kim as president and repay the money borrowed by former President Kang."

However, foundation officials maintain the position that "we cannot tolerate holding the university and foundation hostage to resolve personal issues."

In this situation, the Ministry of Education approved the Cheongam Foundation board meeting convening request made by Cheongam University faculty and staff and the majority of foundation directors the day before.

A Cheongam Foundation official said, "The board meeting is scheduled to be convened on the 25th."

With the Ministry of Education's approval to convene the Cheongam Foundation board meeting, hopes for the normalization of Cheongam University are rising among faculty, students, and the local community.

As a prestigious private university continuing the founder's spirit, the faculty, students, and local community expect the directors to operate the university with conviction.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.