During the winter break, a sophomore by the name of Doo-re Song wrote a post on the freshmen online club about his sale of Calculus solutions. The posting starts off by saying that the school copying room sells solutions of Biology, General Chemistry, General Physics and Linear Algebra but not Calculus I. It also states that the version of this year’s book has changed, so students would not be able to get it anywhere else. Most importantly, it contains reasons why the reader must buy the solution from him right now, saying that Calculus is a subject that cannot be studied without a solution. Concerning legal matters, the writer said that he had approval from Pearson Korea – the publisher that owns the right to the solution manuals – to make his sales. In addition, he said that due to a contract with a printing office, the solution could be printed cheaply so that what originally cost 40,000 won, he would sell for 30,000 won.
However, some students raised suspicions about the validity of the license from Pearson Korea. The school regulation also forbids any actions that could be profitable without the student notifying the school beforehand. Amongst all of these controversies, one student contacted Pearson Korea and got an answer saying that they didn’t give permission for others to sell the solution.
After a post where Pearson Korea expressed its official position, Urinuri, the undergraduate student council, issued a formal statement concerning this issue after questioning Doo-re Song, a member of Urinuri's executive bureau. The statement said that though Doo-re Song contacted Pearson Korea about selling the solution, he wasn’t approved.
After Song’s post, 291 students paid him even though the solution hadn't been printed. Urinuri concluded that Doo-re Song was obligated to return money earned for the solution and write a formal letter of apology.
Besides Urinuri, a professor from the Department of Mathematical Sciences said that the decision regarding the punishment request of Doo-re Song to the school will be made after discussing with the Board of Education and the professor overseeing Calculus I.