SNU student council adopts antidiscrimination clause after years of debate

An amendment to Seoul National University (SNU)’s student council constitution guaranteeing members the right not to be discriminated against was approved after nearly three years of debate.

SNU's council of college student leaders announced Monday that the amendment, which outlines students’ right not to be discriminated against and their duty to respect others, was approved at a Friday meeting of student representatives.

The amendment adds a provision to Article 4, which outlines members’ rights, stating that members have the right not to be discriminated against on 18 grounds, including sexual orientation, gender identity and religion. A new sentence was also added to Article 5, which outlines members’ duties, stating that “members have a duty to treat one another as individuals with equal dignity and respect.”

The proposal to add an antidiscrimination clause had been brought before the student council seven times since January 2024, but each attempt either ended without a decision or was rejected.

The university's student and minority human rights committee, which initially proposed the amendment, said an incident at a university human rights lecture in August 2023 prompted the move. A pastor who spoke at the lecture argued that people needed to leave homosexuality behind and undergo conversion therapy.

“The lack of human rights provisions at the student council level became apparent as we responded to the issue in December that year,” the committee said, explaining the purpose of the proposal.

The amendment faced prolonged delays over whether the phrase “without reasonable grounds” should be included in the antidiscrimination provision.

At a special meeting of student representatives in February 2024, some argued that the phrase was necessary to distinguish ordinary discriminatory acts from temporary preferential measures intended to support minorities. The phrase had been omitted from the original proposal.

There was also debate over whether establishing the right not to be discriminated against had sufficient social consensus. In particular, some argued that there was no agreement on including gender identity among the grounds for protection from discrimination.

After similar discussions during the meeting on Friday, the amendment, excluding the phrase “without reasonable grounds,” was approved with 64 of the 89 representatives present voting in favor.

Song Tae-hyun, who oversees strategic coordination for the SNU's council of college student leaders and is a proposer of the amendment, said the term “discrimination” itself implies an unreasonable distinction and that there was considerable consensus among members of the university community and the broader public on enshrining the right in the student council constitution.

Some representatives also raised concerns that the SNU amendment could be used as a basis for arguments in favor of comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation in Korea.

An undergraduate student from the College of Social Sciences who observed the meeting said the new provision could provide “a basis for those advocating for comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation,” adding that its potential impact should be considered when deciding whether to adopt the provision.

Comprehensive antidiscrimination bills, which would prohibit discrimination on a broad range of grounds without reasonable justification, have repeatedly been introduced in the National Assembly since the Roh Moo-hyun government first submitted a bill in December 2007. Bills were also introduced during the 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd National Assemblies but failed to become law.

As efforts to enact comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation remain stalled, some universities have moved to add antidiscrimination provisions to their own student council constitutions.

Korea University, for example, added a provision in 2014 stating that student council members have the right not to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to SNU’s council of college student leaders, only six of the 11 comprehensive universities in Seoul with publicly available student council constitutions — excluding Seoul National University itself — currently guarantee the right not to be discriminated against.

Some universities, however, continue to face opposition from religious and conservative groups.

At SNU, debate over a separate human rights charter covering not only students but also faculty and staff has remained stalled for seven years despite the recent amendment to the student council constitution.

In 2020, the SNU Human Rights Center proposed a draft charter stating that members of the university community, including sexual minorities, should not be discriminated against for any reason. But discussions have made little progress amid opposition from groups including the right-wing student group Truth Forum and the SNU Christian Alumni Association.

The groups have criticized the charter as promoting what they describe as “dictatorship by homosexuality and gender ideology.”

Um Ji-na, head of the university's student and minority human rights committee, said she hopes the constitutional amendment will help restart discussions on the stalled human rights charter.

“I hope the amendment will also give momentum to discussions on the human rights charter, which have been suspended,” she said.

BY LEE GYU-RIM [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]