Yep, we saved the department!
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@mju_myosu Daniela, do you have an official reply?
Because @benjito here says the miracle happened 
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Yes, you understand it correctly. The petition’s goal isn’t as dramatic as to say “spam is fine - warning isn’t needed because there is urgency” even though you try to make it so.
You are missing the point. I agreed with the cause and didn’t think twice before supporting it. I now realize next time I have to take the time and read the fine print before doing so. If the petitioners put in a little effort to avoid such things, they wont alienate people who are on the same page as them.
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Is there a formal decision that the department will continue operating or they just let it be until further notice?
This is clearly a managerial decision in some insgnificant corner of the academia, but if it creates a precedent, many other managerial decisions about “secondary” disciplines will start creeping out.
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No, unfortunately the issue has not been resolved and Myongji’s final decision is yet to be announced.
The current plan was submitted to the Ministry of Education. Now our last hope is that the Ministry would suggest amendments which in return the decision makers can use as a good opportunity to increase the current low student number according to a Ministry’s guideline published on December 16th. According to that press release, university quotas can be adjusted more freely than before in the process of integrating and restructuring universites. In order to establish a new department, there would be no need to reduce the quota of an established department to meet the former strict quota limit of the integrated university. In other words, according to this new regulation, Myongji University can consider the continuation of their baduk, philosophy, maths and physics departments and still establish trendy new departments.
Public media (newspaper articles, Baduk TV, social media) including opinion polls (in English, Korean, Chinese) are important means for us to keep voicing our position.
This being said, I appreciate all of your interest, feedback and comments. Thank you very much!
I’ll keep you updated.
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There are many sports and games that get far more attention. And then other than that, people try to erronously find life meaning in things like religion and culture, or art which is loaded with our human biases. I find meaning in the purest expression of thought in something like the artistic mathematics of 바둑.
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Anyone with some news since a year passed?
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Dep. of Go Studies at Myongji University is mentioned on poster in Call for Presentations: 2nd ISGS International Conference on Go Studies in France
So it seems to be active still, but that’s all I have.
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I saw a news article saying that it has already been abolished
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Maybe the decision is finalised but the actual abolishment is yet to come
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Thank you very much for your interest and sorry for the late reply. Providing ‘hard facts’ is challenging as the situation is still unfolding. Recently, the university introduced a new restructuring plan that excludes our department. However, they have confirmed that the graduate MA and PhD courses will continue. Currently, this September may be the last opportunity to enroll in the Bachelor’s program. The BA courses will continue as long as students are enrolled to pursue a degree in Baduk Studies, a requirement the university must legally uphold. We are actively working to reverse this decision and are considering several options.
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As someone who dedicates their life to Go, albeit in the USA, what is the benefit of the degree? Does in come with a career? If not then why pay the money. I love the Go community but I agree that a college degree needs to have job potential. (I don’t mean as a side class but as a major)
No degree comes with a career goofball
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I meant potential for a job/career. A CS degree will be very helpful for a resume and the classes help you understand the ins and outs of the expected skills in the field. Typically people don’t go to college and pay a large amount of money just for fun. But rather it increases their future job opportunities.
That’s a fair thing to ask. I have to assume this is more like a human studies or literary degree than a CS degree in terms of career potential. Still, from a cultural perspective, I think Go is a subject worth studying.
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Teacher in a go academy is a plausible job in South Korea which a Baduk Studies degree could help with.
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Many university carrier don’t lead to a job in a direct way besides research/teaching like most of the human sciences (sociology, economy, ethnology History of arts etc… ) As long as there is a considerable amount of knowledge and possible theoretical researches in view it’s just a matter in getting interest from the society in further development.
I do think there are enough to teach, study and research in go to make it a university carreer. And there are some side job (writing teaching researching mostly) as in the other carreer although that is not necessary.
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Typically i did that and i was not alone. Just i didn’t pay that much money (depends on the countries).
We say that giving some time of your life for philosophy won’t hurt anyone. And societies need fundamental research in sciences which has usually nothing to do with applyed sciences.
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