SNU main building occupied by students

Since "Occupy Wall Street" after the 2008 global financial crisis, the so-called occupy movement has spread across the world. When a democratic movement occurred in Europe after the French Revolution in 1789, protestors fought with barricades and were not able to occupy something. Occupation was allowed after society began to tolerate protests to some extent. The Flint sit-down strike in Michigan by General Motors workers is said to be the beginning of occupation.

Occupying university buildings was prominent in the global student movement in 1968. It spread to University of California, Berkeley, Sapienza University of Rome, Paris-Nanterre University and Tokyo University in Japan. Such strike began to take place in Korean universities in the 1980s. The most aggressive one was occupying the library of Konkuk University in 1986. Sit-down protests were rare back then because policemen were stationing on campuses, and most protests involved firebombs and stones using barricades.

Occupying universities has changed from something political to the one that is related to campus life since the 1987 democratization in Korea. Such movement seems to have ups and downs like fashion. Students occupied the dean’s office or the head office, opposing an increase in tuitions in the early 2000s, which became a social issue. Ewha Womans University students occupied the school's head office before the summer vacation to oppose the creation of a college for office workers and this spread to other universities including Dongguk University. Starting from Monday, Seoul National University students occupied the school's main building to oppose the creation of a new campus in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

Regardless of illegality, occupation is not a proper way of protesting for college students. It is not certain whether the cause for lack of communication lies in the student association. However, the owner of a university is neither professors nor students. University students, however, should not mimic those in society who believe they can win if they shout out loud, insist on something and fighting back to the ropes. One should be able to take a step back if he or she loses in a debate.