The 9th National Policy Forum: “Looking Back on Two Years of the National Policy Forum: The Reason We Have to Speak Out” 

On Dec. 4, 2018, the organizing committee of the SNU National Policy Forum hosted an event to reflect on the forum’s first two years in existence. Founded in Oct. 2016, the forum has provided opportunities for debate on state policies in keeping with SNU’s commitment to fostering public discourse, and has generated multidisciplinary discussions on major state policies and social agendas. 

However, Professor Kang Won-Taek (Dept. of Political Science and International Relations), a member of the organizing committee, argued during his presentation at the event that an analysis of the forum’s topics, presenters, panelists, etc. over the past two years shows that it appears to chase trendy social issues rather than call attention to emergent problems, and said it has not achieved its goals of attracting lively interest on campus or making its voice heard in society. Discussing the event’s titular “reason we have to speak out”, he particularly emphasized that interest in and contribution to public discourse is one of SNU’s primary missions.

A five-person panel offered their evaluations of the forum’s activities and suggested future tasks for it. Professor Jou Kyung-Chul (Dept. of Western History) pointed out that, as a place for public debate, it is important that the forum feature diverse voices, and that it should not stop at theoretical discussion but endeavor to recommend solutions to the issues it considers. Professor Lee Hyunsook (Dept. of Biological Sciences) recommended greater participation of natural sciences and engineering scholars in the social-sciences-centered forum and urged it to move past chasing sociopolitical issues and find questions that will prepare society for a new era. Professor Soonman Kwon (Graduate School of Public Health) said that what is most important for the forum are its topics, and, emphasizing that these must be timely, future-oriented, and reflective of diverse voices, called on the forum to seek out and produce discourse on fundamental problems that other forums are unable to address. Professor (Dept. of English Language and Literature) and SNU Diversity Council Chair Ki-Sun Hong said that the forum must take on the most difficult issues facing our society, suggesting as examples education and social integration, the kind of people the 21st needs, and a redefinition of the concept of excellence; she also called for the participation of  diverse faculty, such as those who are newly hired or in the natural sciences field, in the forum organization. Finally, Diversity Council member and JoongAng Ilbo staff writer Kim Jin Kook argued that the forum’s activities over the last two years have not been well-known externally and suggested making use of YouTube or other popular media. He also called on SNU and other universities to give their sustained attention to long-term issues that national government administrations cannot explore in depth during their five-year terms.