College of Social Sciences remodel and the Korea Economic Innovation Center
Problem
The Department of Economics had raised 15 billion won for a new Korea Economic Innovation Center, and after three years adrift the plan had settled on a cheesecake-shaped building on the April 19 monument site. Economics was not happy with it, the social sciences community was not happy with it, and neither was the rest of SNU, but everyone had concluded there was no other option and was going along. Meanwhile the College of Social Sciences had long wanted to remodel its aging buildings and could not get the work started, because remodeling sat too low in the priority order.
Process
I did not think we should simply move ahead with a plan that satisfied no one, so I proposed a new alternative. I suggested moving the Korea Economic Innovation Center between the Institute of Asian Studies and the College of Social Sciences and connecting it to the college building. This required rebuilding part of the college and remodeling the rest, turning a 15 billion won single-building project into a large-scale project costing more than 50 billion won.
Looking at the original plan for the Korea Economic Innovation Center, I thought that building it as drawn would leave an eyesore on campus, and that as vice president for planning I would be hearing about it for years to come.
Result
We drafted a plan in which the headquarters would contribute ₩25B, the Department of Economics ₩15B, and the College of Social Sciences ₩10B, and persuaded President Oh Se-jung, then College of Social Sciences Dean Yu Hong-rim, and Department of Economics Chair Lee Sang-seung to launch the new plan within a month. As a result, the integrated new building for the College of Social Sciences and the Korea Economic Innovation Center is due for completion this September.