PNU Club Association (PNUDY) caused controversy after collecting a “booth usage fee” from PNU clubs participating in the event for open recruitment without advance notice.

On March 7th, a posting came up titled “Why does the club association work like this?” on the PNU anonymous online community, “Everytime.” Most students agreed with the posting and criticized that it is hard to understand the collection of the “booth usage fee” from PNUDY ahead of the event for promoting clubs.

PNUDY collected a 5,000 won “booth usage fee” from each PNU club participating in the “club open recruitment event,” which was held for two days from March 14th. PNUDY cited some reasons for collecting the fees: Lack of budget for this year, equity in the use of fees with clubs that do not get involved in the event, and exclusion of clubs that do not actively participate from the booth usage.

The clubs participating in the event loudly complained about not receiving a prior notice about collecting the fees. PNUDY announced the collection of the 5,000 won “booth usage fees” from the clubs that determined to use the booths after gathering all the participating clubs. A central club president said, “I understood why PNUDY collected the fees, but it was unconvincing that we had not been informed beforehand. As the notice was late, I hope that the delivery of future use will be made clear.”

PNUDY insisted that the “booth usage fee” collection was not progressed quickly. A PNUDY president Choi Jong-Il (Dept. of Microbiology, 17) explained, “It was impossible to check the record of collecting money with the item “booth usage fee.” However, previously, there was a record of collecting necessary expenses like the production cost of booth publicity banners separately.” He continued, adding “The collection of the fees had already been decided by the “Club Operating Committee,” which the representatives of each club belong to. I apologize for the late notice for each club.”

The fact that the fee would not be refunded also led to express dissatisfaction. It was possible to return the fee after the event was over if the fee was collected due to the “exclusion of clubs that do not actively participate from the booth usage.” Jeon Seung-Won (Dept. of Special Education, 22), a president of the PNU Kendo club, or “Jigum club,” who participated in the event, said, “I had participated in the club booth event before, but I had never paid the fee. If we had got our money back later, there would have been fewer complaints from participating clubs.”

PNUDY announced that the collected fee would be used to operate the event staff, produce promotional materials, and conduct the event. Details are available through the Internet cafe’s public meeting minutes.

Meanwhile, the club booth event was held for two days from March 14th, with 79 clubs of PNU participating to announce the recruitment and to welcome new members.

Reporter Yoon Da-Gyo

Translated by Kwon Eun-Ji