PNU students complained that it is a paper administration measure that failed to fully consider the campus infrastructure situation and student opinions over the night-time access restriction of the student center at PNU Miryang Campus.

On August 16th, PNU head office restricted access to all buildings after 11 PM to manage student safety over the Inha University's sexual violence death incident. Also, it denied access to the Miryang Campus Student Center, Kkumyeoul. According to the official letter, all school members cannot use the facility from 11 PM to 6 AM the next day (published by Channel PNU on September 1st). If it is inevitable, they must apply for permission to stay.

Students at Miryang Campus pointed out that the restriction on access to Dream Beach is a measure that does not consider the infrastructure situation of the campus. Unlike other campuses, Miryang Campus does not have alternative learning spaces such as reading rooms and study cafes near the university. Lee Ji-Soo (Dept. of Food Resource Economics, 21) said, "Busan and Yangsan Campus can continue their learning activities by moving to private spaces even if access on campus is restricted after 11 PM. But in the case of Miryang Campus, there is no place to study."

In fact, it has been confirmed that there is no private space to study, such as a study cafe or a reading room within a 1km radius of the Miryang campus main gate. If you expand to a radius of 6km, there are four study cafes and 10 reading rooms. However, this is almost impossible to use because the number of buses is small, and they do not run after 10 PM. An anonymous student (Dept. of Food Resource Economics, 22) said, "There is a way to take a taxi. But it costs more than 7,000 won per ride. A surcharge occurs because it passes through a tunnel." On the other hand, Busan and Yangsan Campus were confirmed to have 15 reading rooms, 28 study cafes, about 4 reading rooms, and 13 study cafes within a 1km radius as of November this year.

There is also a voice of dissatisfaction that the administration has not gone through the process of collecting opinions from school members. They did not ask for students' opinions or even notify them about the reason for restrictions on access. Lee said, "There was no notice from the department or the College of Biological and Natural Sciences student council. It seems there is no problem because all campuses have implemented access restrictions together, but we need to consider the poor infrastructure of Miryang Campus."

However, there has been no discussion on adjusting the operating hours of Kkumyeoul, and related departments seem to pass their responsibilities to each other. A student official from PNU said, "We do not manage all buildings in the school, and each building has a different management subject. So please get in touch with the administrative office of the College of Life Resources and Sciences." The administrative office of our university's College of Life Resources and Sciences said, "We have been informed by the department of students that access should be restricted."

   Reporter Kim Hyun-Hee

Translated by Shin Ji-Won