The current version of the Public Educational Officials Act is flawed because the only type of diversity it mandates consideration of in the hiring of university faculty is that of candidates’ undergraduate university of origin. This means that faculty hiring has remained largely male-centric. Each university is required to establish and operate a Committee for Gender Equality for Appointment of Faculty Members, but at many institutions, the committees have little influence and do not function well in reality. Therefore, detailed studies should be conducted to evaluate the accomplishments of each university’s committee as well as the gender equality action plans that each university is required to collect and submit and the plans’ outcomes.

Sharing this perspective on the issue, the SNU Diversity Council and the Korean Association of National University Women Professors (KANUWP) jointly prepared a suggested amendment to the Public Educational Officials Act. The amendment, which would affect regulations on the hiring of new faculty at national universities, was discussed at a public hearing at the National Assembly on Sept. 8, 2017 and officially proposed to the assembly on Sept. 29 by Assemblyman Oh Se-jeong of the People’s Party.

The amendment would add gender to undergraduate university of origin as a type of diversity that must be promoted, and it envisions “gender” from a diversity standpoint in which it does not just mean “women”. It would also change the name of the relevant section of the act from “Recruiting New Faculty Members of Universities/Colleges” to “Diversity in Recruiting New Faculty Members of Universities/Colleges”.