Emergencies that happen at night are nothing new at Handong. Emergencies have happened to both Korean and international students. I rejoice that we now have a doctor on campus that can prescribe medication. However, a few things have come up that change how I think we need to respond.
In Handong’s history, this is even before my time; thus, more than thirteen years ago. The gansanims actually lived in the dormitories. They were more thought of as a dorm parent. In time though, due to work regulations, gansanims no longer lived on campus. While this was the case, until last semester, at least one gansanim from among all the gansanims had a night duty position from 11pm to 7am. In this way, when a night emergency came up, there was always someone as a contact point for the Resident Assistants (RAs) or the night guard. This is no longer the case, so when an emergency came up this semester, no one knew the procedure to follow.
The immediate response of the professors of Carmichael College was that this position needs to be reinstated. However, since they do not live in the dormitory, this didn’t realize that this proposed fix doesn’t quite work. Why doesn’t this work, and why wouldn’t it be good to reinstate the night duty gansanim. The answer is quite simple. The gansanims don’t leave campus. They can do first aid, CPR, and call 119. Yet, they don’t leave campus.
From the perspective of the Korean RCs, why is there a need for a night duty gansanim when anyone, whether students, RAs, or the night guard, can call 119. In many universities in the U.S., RAs often work the overnight shift or take turns being on call for emergencies. Of course, many Christian universities also have live in dorm parents, students who have recently graduated, in case there is a deeper need.
So then, what does the headmaster of Carmichael RC want? Currently, the RC (headmasters or other RC professors) have no say in the hiring process of new gansanims. We would like to serve as a first round interview and make recommendations to the dormitory committee about viable candidates. In other words, only gansanims that have passed a preliminary interview by the Carmichael RC would be considered by dormitory affairs. There are former students that are capable in both English and Korean that Carmichael professors would like to hire. We would also ask that they would be provided living space in the dorm (not that they would work night hours), but that they would be available in night emergencies including going to the hospital with students (Korean and international) who have emergencies. We also want to ask that the gansanims would work in the dormitory during orientation. Jet lag and heavy activities have resulted in myself and other professors taking students to the hospital during orientation when we often have duties already at iHanst, professors’ retreat, and department meetings. This proposal still has the gansanims still work for the dormitory office while making sure the needs of students in Carmichael College are better met.

-Headmaster Bishop