Posters, protests, petitions: A look at Dongduk Women’s University's clash over coed transition

Students at Dongduk Women's University continue to voice opposition to the institution's plans to become coeducational in 2029.

Along with their protests over the announced change, the students are demanding to be properly included in the discussion on whether the university will become coed or not.  

Dongduk Women's University's general student council held a press conference on Tuesday, delivering the results of a student vote that asked whether students approve of the coed change.  

The voting started on Dec. 3, a day after the university announced it would become coed in 2029, and ran until Monday. Of the 3,470 respondents, 85.7 percent said they are against the university becoming coed. Another 8.1 percent said they are for the change, while 4.2 percent abstained and 2 percent of the votes were called invalid.  

"Students are the absolute majority of a university, and are the ones who will get affected the most from the university's decision to become coed," said a representative from a coalition of Dongduk Women's University students. "But without any consideration of such matters, student voices were reduced to the same weight as those of faculty, staff and alumni."

"Faculty, staff and alumni all have direct ties to the university administration and fall within its sphere of influence, meaning their interests cannot fundamentally align with those of the students. From the very beginning, this structure was designed to sideline students and skew the outcome," said the student representative.

The voting results will now be sent to the university's Office of Student Affairs.  

With the outcome of the vote showing significant student opposition, Dongduk Women's University is set to hold a briefing session on Dec. 15 to reveal the school's future plans.  

Tensions between students and the university have been ongoing since November last year. Here’s a look at the key developments so far and what could be ahead for the university.

How it started

The tensions started with an academic board meeting held on Nov. 5, 2024.

Following the meeting, speculation that university officials had discussed plans to turn Dongduk Women's University into a coeducational institution spread among students. Students also found out that six male students were admitted to the university's Korean Language and Culture Studies major that year. This was possible because the program is open only to international students and considered outside the school's regular admissions quota, meaning that student selection is not subject to the same gender restrictions.

The university's general student council asked for clarification from the administrative headquarters on Nov. 7, 2024, and a received a response that becoming coed was discussed as one of the possible plans, but not brought forward as an official agenda item.

Dongduk Women's University also released a statement that the change was discussed as a possible idea for the College of Design and College of Performing Arts. Meeting attendees had agreed that further discussions with university stakeholders, including students, faculty and alumni, were necessary, and were set to discuss the matter further in the future. 

Protests on campus

Various protests took place on campus starting on Nov. 11, 2024, including holding signs opposing the decision to go coed and sending condolence wreaths. The campus was also covered in spray-painted messages and daejabo, or posters with handwritten text, condemning the move.  

Students occupied the university's main building and held sit-in protests and also blocked certain classrooms and buildings. Classes were moved online, with some students entirely boycotting classes.  

Students of other women's universities joined Dongduk Women's University students in placing their university jackets in front of the main building in protest. Graduates also printed out their diplomas and taped them to the ground to show their support.  

To show that students did not want their university to become coed, the general student council held a student assembly on Nov. 20, 2024. With 1,973 students in attendance, 1,971 voted against the coed proposal and two abstained.  

University files for compensation

Amid the protests, the university filed a compensation claim of 330 million won ($224,000) against the general student council for damaging a building where a job fair was to be held. Further announcements by the university estimated the damage caused by student protests throughout the entire campus to be somewhere between 2.4 billion won and 5.4 billion won.

University officials and the general student council met to discuss the coed change and to talk about how the damage would be compensated, whether classrooms would reopen and if students would end their occupation of the university’s main building.

Following a meeting on Nov. 20, 2024, the university agreed to stop coed discussions and to include students in conversations if the school was to discuss the idea again. In exchange, the student council agreed to stop boycotting classes and would vacate classroom buildings. Despite the agreement, students still occupied the main building and a conclusion on compensation wasn't reached.  

The university then filed for an injunction at the Seoul Northern District Court on Nov. 28, 2024, to end the students' occupation of the main building. Criminal complaints were also filed against 21 students for destruction of property and obstruction of business.

While students continued to occupy the main building, martial law was declared by former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 3, and the sit-in protest participants had to leave for safety reasons. Martial law was shortly nullified by the National Assembly, but students were prohibited to enter the day after, with the general student council announcing an end to the sit-in protest.  

The injunction filed against students was dismissed by the court on Feb. 10 this year and the criminal complaints filed regarding the students were withdrawn by the university on May 14.  

However, 22 students were referred to the prosecution on June 26, with university students signing a petition to issue a decision not to indict. Despite the university withdrawing its criminal complaints, the investigations continued, with complaints filed by individuals outside the university.

The campus graffiti from the protests still remains even today, with the university and general student council discussing how the costs should be covered.  

Coed discussion committee

On Dec. 19, 2024, the university proposed the idea of forming a coed discussion committee to the general student council. The committee would discuss the coed issue and gather students' opinions and would include professors, alumni, students and university staff.  

The committee was then formally launched on July 17, consisting of 12 student representatives, 12 faculty representatives, 12 staff representatives and 12 alumni representatives.  

A town-hall meeting was held on Sept. 22 and 24, with a total 406 faculty members, students, staff and alumni in attendance. A vote among the attendees revealed that 57.1 percent were for becoming coed, 25.2 percent wanted the school to remain a women's university and 17.7 percent postponed their votes.  

After around six months of deliberations, the coed discussion committee announced on Dec. 2 that it recommended Dongduk Women's University become a coeducational institution.  

A total of 75.8 percent of committee members agreed on the school becoming coed, with 12.5 percent wanting it to remain a women's institution and 11.7 percent postponing their decisions.  

The university's president announced on Dec. 3 that the university plans to become coed in the 2029 academic year, deciding to implement the change after most of the current students have graduated.

Student voices

Despite the university president's announcement, students haven't stopped their protests. 

While many students were said to have been brought into the coed discussion, students say their voices weren't been properly represented.

"The students have been clearly expressing our opposition to the university becoming a coeducational institution over the past year," read a statement by the general student council on Dec. 3. "The committee weighed student opinions the same as those of faculty, staff and alumni, which inevitably diminished student voices."

"Student representatives requested an adjustment to this ratio, but were rejected. As a result, despite many students opposing becoming a coed institution, the committee came to a distorted conclusion that shows there is high support for becoming coed. This clearly shows that the deliberation process proceeded without adequately reflecting the views of students, who are the primary stakeholders in this decision."

The recent student vote results — with 85.7 percent of the total 3,470 respondents wanting the school to remain a women's university — will be sent to the university's Office of Student Affairs.

Dongduk Women's University students and those from other women's universities have also been filing petitions on e-People, a civil complaint and policy proposal platform run by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission, asking the Ministry of Education to block the university from becoming coed, as the decision was made while neglecting student voices.  

However, there isn't much the Education Ministry can do.

According to the Private School Act, a university needs consent from two-thirds or more of its board to make changes to its key regulations, which would be what Dongduk Women's University needs to do to become coed. If the board members agree, the university simply has to report the change to the Minister of Education within 14 days.  

The only thing that needs approval from the Education Ministry is changes related to the university's name. According to the Higher Education Act, private universities need approval from the Minister of Education when changing important matters, which includes the purpose of the university, university name, location and plans to open affiliated schools.  

International student only programs

Male students being already enrolled in Dongduk Women's University's Korean Language and Culture Studies program has become another issue for students.

While the program will continue to accept students — including males — there will be restrictions that aim to separate the male students from the general student body.  

According to university regulations, those enrolled in international student only programs will not be able to change their major outside of the international student only offerings. Dongduk Women's University students also won't be able to change their major to the international student only programs.  

The university aims to create a bigger International College, which will also only be for international students and open to students regardless of gender. The university has accepted applications for its inaugural class that will start in spring 2026.  

The college will have the Division of Arts and Media, Division of BioHealth Sciences, Division of Computing and Software Systems, Division of Global Business and also the current Korean Language and Culture Studies.  

Students admitted to the International College will only be able to do double majors or minors within the college, and vice versa.  

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]