A Critical Reflection on the Refusal to Request the Appointment of the President of Gongju National University of Education

This paper aims to critically examine the process of rejecting the appointment recommendation for the president of Gongju National University of Education, who was elected in accordance with the relevant regulations governing university president appointments. To achieve this, the study analyzed a variety of records, including diaries written by Professor L, a candidate for the presidency, interviews with 24 advisors, phone calls, text messages, and media reports. As a result of the study, the government's personnel verification criteria were not applied to the refusal to propose the appointment of the president of Gongju National University of Education, and the National Intelligence Service was involved. In addition, at the time of the rejection disposition, the ‘reason for rejection’ was not presented, and the appointment proposal was later rejected due to personal flaws. It was found that the decision to propose an appointment was made in a Top-Down method. In conclusion, it was found that the refusal to propose the appointment of the President of the Gongju National University of Education was politically and ideologically made. In the future, the university will have to decide on its own. In addition, the system improvement is required to ensure the autonomy of universities, which is the basic value of the constitution, in the appointment of the president elected by direct election.