Seoul National University will be implementing a Stop the Tenure Clock (STC) policy starting this fall semester.

The STC policy will allow for a maximum faculty contract extension of two years for female professors who are pregnant or facing demands of caring for their newborn. According to the current SNU appointment regulations, faculty contracts must be renewed within two years for full-time instructors, four years for assistant professors, and six years for associate professors. Contract renewal is possible only once. When contract extension becomes possible through this system, evaluation for promotion and guaranteed retirement of professors, which is conducted every semester, will be postponed.

STC policies were first introduced in America in the attempt to protect the rights of college instructors during their probationary period whose tenure might be negatively affected upon pregnancy or caring for a newborn child, or serious personal illness or major illness of an immediate family member. It grants an extension of their probationary period in recognition of these personal justifications.

This institutional policy came to be considered by the University due to the growing number of female professors in recent years. The number of female professors at SNU has continued to steadily increase since 2006 when it exceeded ten percent of the total faculty. Currently, there are 222 female professors at SNU, amounting to 12.2% of the total faculty.

Kim Myung Hwan, dean of academic affairs, explained, “Towards the end of last year, the female professors association suggested the adoption of such a policy. The administration decided to implement the policy upon positive recognition of its necessity and objective.”

In addition, Seoul National University will arrange a policy for the abatement of lecture hours for which the professor is responsible from nine to three for the semester of the delivery or the semester following it. Other various female professor support systems will also soon be carried out alongside the STC policy implementation.

Furthermore, programs to promote gender equality will be launched following the establishment of an official Gender Equality Support Center as an affiliated organization under the jurisdiction of the University administration. Kim commented that “Measures to expand the range of application of the STC policy will be reviewed to include male professors when the system is settled.”

Professor Chung Chinsung (Department of Sociology), president of the female professors association, also expressed her anticipation of a more mature Korean society. “As SNU is the first in the country to implement this policy, I hope other universities will promptly imitate the effort and that SNU will serve as a role model for the realization of a gender egalitarian culture in Korea. The development of a university culture that guarantees the equality of all minorities, such as foreign and disabled students, is necessary in the immediate future.”

Implementation of the STC policy, needless to say, is a big first step towards promoting equality among the community members of SNU and on a broader level, Korean society as a whole.

June 7, 2010
Written by LEE Bo Young, SNU English Editor