Introduction
Earlier this January, Korea was shocked by the suicide of Min Hong Cho, a young freshman who entered KAIST upon graduating a telecommunications high school. Since then, three students and a professor also committed suicide, prompting a massive infux of public interest, as well a severe criticism from politicians, academics, and students. Some have criticized President Suh's aggressive reforms, others the competitive nature of Korea's top engineering school.

In what can only be explained as a severe political backlash on all fronts, protests, provocative posters and damaging news reports have become the norm over much of April, and these factors culminated in a series of events that started with President Suh's press conference on the 7th and climaxed during the Emergency Undergraduate Student Assembly on the 13th, and was partially resolved during the KAIST Board of Directors meeting on the 15th. As of this paper's publication, the situation has calmed down, but The KAIST Herald will keep watching these developments for KAIST's English-speaking community.

Competition and Reform
Are these the main problems with the current system?

1. President Suh’s pursuit of “American Individualism and Competitive Systems”

English Classes
President Nam Pyo Suh introduced English-only classes to KAIST in 2007, one year after his appointment as head of the university. This had in fact been supported by former KAIST president Robert Laughlin when he arrived at the university in 2004 but, as a fellow Korean, President Suh has been more successful in implementing the new English-only curriculum.

With the crisis at hand, however, it has now come under criticism and close scrutiny. The biggest problem with the implementation of English-only classes is that many of the students are not fluent in the language which consequently places limitations on how well they can perform at KAIST.

The same can also be said of many of the professors who lament their inability to teach as effectively when using English. They also noted that student-professor interaction in class has greatly reduced since the rule’s implementation. English as the language of instruction has thus served as a source of frustration for many of the students who view it as an obstacle in their learning as well as their success in academic competition.

Financial Factors
By far the most publicized part of KAIST’s system is the implementation of a punitive tuition payment scheme. Under this measure, students who cannot maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher are required to pay a certain sum of money as a tuition fee, the exact amount of which is dependent on the actual GPA. Considering how other students’ tuitions are fully covered for by the government, many students see this as a source of pressure and faction within the student body. Having to pay tuition is often viewed by students as a shameful fact, kept hidden from others, as only a minority of the students are subject to it. It thus increases the sense of inferiority that the less successful students already feel from the purely academic aspect of competition at KAIST.

2. A Competitive Environment

As KAIST is one of the leading universities of science and technology in Korea, it naturally accepts some of the brightest students in the nation. Thus, most students admitted to KAIST have always been at the top of their class, and are used to being “number one.”

However, in KAIST, these confident students are forced to compete with others of similar academic abilities which not only makes the competition fierce, but also forces upon students with no past record of failure to accept the fact that they cannot always be the best. As students naturally experience more failure than success, their once-soaring confidence and self-esteem are both destroyed over time.

Another facet to this argument is that the students, already exhausted by the relentless sense of competition and rivalry from their pre-college years, finally give up after entering the university.

3. Isolation

As the KAIST main campus is located in Daejeon, which is at least an hour away from Seoul, most students who enter the university have no choice but to live in on-campus dormitories. Furthermore, despite the convenient and relatively inexpensive means of transportation that are available, heavy workloads force KAIST students to spend a lot of their time and many of their weekends on campus. This situation has a positive consequence in that it encourages students to build intimate relationships with and rely on each other, but conversely, prevents them from having many opportunities to be with their parents and friends outside of KAIST who may be able to best help the students in times of need.

Cutthroat competition can also put friendships in jeopardy, as students may feel much more isolated if they begin to feel that they are always surrounded by competitors rather than dependable friends.

This sense of isolation, along with the rigors of a lifestyle at KAIST and other natural, emotional problems that young teenage students may have can lead to emotional instability and produce depression related mental disorders. In fact, it has been revealed that all the students who recently passed away suffered from emotional instabilities that ranged from mild depression to manic-depressive illness.

Discussion with the President
President Suh held an open discussion to promote communication with students

The first round of debates with President Nam Pyo Suh was held in Terman Hall at the Creative Learning Building (E11) at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, April 8. Held by the 25th Undergraduate Student Council and proceeded by the KAIST Times, the event was held in order to address problems with KAIST, which have recently entered the public spotlight with the suicide deaths of four KAIST students this year. Live coverage of the event was provided by KAIST’s Broadcast Station and a Twitter feed was operated by the Times.

The opening remarks were given by the Dean of Student Affairs, Seungseob Lee, who asked for a moment of silence on behalf of the deceased. Immediately after, the Dean announced to the gathered students that President Suh would not appear for the debate if any reporters or TV crews were present. Prior to the beginning of the meeting, the press was out en masse, with around a fifth of the lecture hall filled with reporters and camera crews.

Dean Lee’s announcement was met with angry remarks by the students, who were expecting the President to attend regardless of the presence of the media. A debate on whether the students would agree to the administration’s wishes and bar entrance to external media, or allow the media to remain despite the possibility of the President not appearing was held for the next hour. There were concerns that President Suh was attempting to exclude the press because he had no wish to listen to the wishes of the students.

Despite a slowly developing consensus that internalizing the debate solely amongst members of KAIST, President Suh entered Terman Hall at 8:05 p.m.. In tandem with President Suh’s entrance, the students reached a spoken agreement to exclude the press from the debate, who were then summarily asked to leave the premises. This meant that the live TV and Twitter feeds were also silenced, but VOK still recorded the discussion on tape.

The debate was temporarily adjourned, but was promptly restarted at 8:30 p.m.. President Suh summarized everything that had been happening in KAIST, and announced that April 11 and 12, would be declared an official period of condolence, and that all classes would be cancelled for those two days. In their place, each department was instructed to hold conferences with its students so that they could debate exactly what the current problems in KAIST are.

After his initial statement, the President then accepted questions from the students in the lecture hall. The ensuing debate covered issues such as the effectiveness of school policies, a lack of communication between the students and the administration, faulty liberal arts education, and increasing the involvement of students in select committees.

President Suh's general response to student's questions was that he and his staff would review all the points raised, and that careful thought would be necessary before any concrete decisions are made.

Yet the discussion seemed to have little effect on calming those who had gathered, as many of the onlookers believed that the president was far too ambiguous with his reponses. Others were disappointed that no concrete promises were made to a number of demands that were made on the debate floor. The second round of discussions were then scheduled on Tuesday, April 12, after which the discussions ended.

The Student Council's Response
In response to the Discussion with the President held on April 8, the 25th Undergraduate Student Council held an Emergency Undergraduate Student Assembly to take action with the help of the student body. To advertise this assembly as well as to express their stance towards the situation, the Council published a statement that was made available to every student via printed information leaflets posted onto the doors of every dormitory room.

Through the statement, the Student Council expressed their opinion that KAIST has become an institute where sutdents cannot be happy. The Council claims that the university has failed to achieve an acceptable level of communication with the student body. The council states that this, along with a lack of students’ influence over school affairs, must be addressed immediately.

The Emergency Undergraduate Studemtn Assembly discussed and voted on the following proposed demands.

I. We demand the participation and guarantee of voting rights of student representatives should be institutionalized in the university’s policy decision process.

Approved: 872 | Against: 15 | Abstain: 19 - Approved

II. We demand that the university authorities acknowledge the failure of their “competition-oriented system reformations.”

Approved: 416 | Against: 317 | Abstain: 119 - Rejected

III - 1 Amend existing rules that violate the autonomy of student activities.

Approved: 708 | Against: 18 | Abstain: 55 - Approved

III - 2 Abolish the punitive tuition fee system.

Approved: 502 | Against: 172 | Abstain: 107 - Approved

III - 3 Terms for educational environment improvement: 
1. Abolish the restrictions on the number of course retakes.

2. Amend the English-only lecture policy.

3. Extend the number of summer courses and normalize summer course tuition to those before 2007.

4. Increase the number of Humanities elective courses in order to ensure the quality of such courses.

5. Mitigate penalties against students who take longer than eight semesters to graduate for students who have a double major or minor to promote interdisciplinary studies.

6. Establish and improve systems to help undergraduate students who have received an academic warning in their first year, considering the diversity of student backgrounds.

Approved: 660 | Against: 41 | Abstain: 80 - Approved

III - 4 Terms for Student welfare improvement
1. Create a support system for students who cannot afford tuition that is not a loan system.

2. Create and support a system that promotes community and club culture.

3. Expand and improve welfare facilities (sports, counseling, etc.) to increase quality of life.

Approved: 676 | Against: 9 | Abstain: 96 - Approved

III - 5 Prepare and disclose an evaluation report examining the administration's reform policies since 2007.

Approved: 647 | Against: 35 | Abstain: 99 - Approved

IV. We demand students' right to vote during the next presidential election.

Approved: 348 | Against: 248 | Abstain: 71 - Approved

For a proposal to be approved, half the students in the quorum must approve. The voting records for all the demands are listed.

President Suh was personally given the approved list of requests and promised the Undergraduate Student Counci President, Young-chul Kwak, to send a response three days later. On the 16th, the president sent an email to the student council, saying that he had put up all the approved items for discussion in the “KAIST Emergency Innovation Committee.” As of April 18, the Undergraduate Student Council plans to push the students' requests through this committee.

Statement from KISA
The international students' views on the issue

The following is a statement released by the KAIST International Student Association (KISA) concerning the recent controversy surrounding KAIST and its policies.

Our view on the events and who is responsible
Basically considering all the points and problems from various sides, we don’t think it is wise to blame a specific person or group of people for what happened. That is why pointing fingers and blaming certain people will not solve the problem, nor will it lead to any constructive development. We believe that the way to solve this kind of problem is through cooperation between school authorities, students’ organizations, experts and advisors to find a proper solution.

One fact to take note of is that this situation is not new to this semester only; it started a long time ago and reached extreme levels last year. The KAIST administration needed to provide some change. They created the new course “Happy College Life.” At first glance, when they released the proposal for this course we did not think it was very promising. However, after getting to know how the course was organized and implemented, we found it to be a really interesting idea, especially for fostering new social bonds among the freshmen and improving integration not only among Korean students but also with the international students. Overall, such policies can improve the quality of social life for all students. The university should make more efforts to make this kind of policies to improve the students’ emotional well-being. The main point is that the school should have a proactive approach to the problem rather than a reactive approach.

Our position on the changes suggested by the Undergraduate Student Council
We strongly believe that the students have the right to propose changes in order to improve their own academic lives. However, some of the changes proposed by the Students’ Association feel more reactive rather than proactive because they are inspired by the problem and not made to prevent the problem.

We believe that the problem is rooted deeply in the academic culture and social environment of KAIST. The changes should target improvements on these spheres rather than seek immediate results, otherwise the problem will persist. Specifically regarding the English lectures policy, it is normally perceived to be wrong by the students because at first it makes you feel uncomfortable, but not because it does not provide any benefits.

Thus, our view is that in order to achieve a truly creative and inspiring environment at KAIST, students must understand the main reason and benefits behind the policies made by the university’s administration. This kind of understanding will bring better communication between the students and the administration, leading to an improvement in the KAIST academic system.

Our position as representatives of international students
We international students, like the Korean students, are very concerned and would like to participate and express our own opinions to the current situation, although we do not believe that taking rushed actions can produce any good. We understand that the information available to the international students may come through informal means or non-official sources and it is important to stay calm, united and to operate with facts rather than personal opinions and conclusions.

Since one international student usually represents the entire international community, we think that the students should first consult with KISA about the issue in order to avoid misunderstanding the situation and possible over-reactions. Also, a manifestation from international students may be misunderstood or twisted to serve erroneous purposes, so we would like to ask the international students to be extremely careful with their actions.

Wrap-up
Certainly this is a time for change, and we have a great opportunity to improve KAIST’s academic and social lives. We believe that only great vision, leadership and cooperation between the sides involved is the right path towards the problem’s solution.

Solutions
What can be done?

The university proposed new measures to relieve the students somewhat of their academic burdens. The school expects the measures to lessen the workload while retaining a certain amount of competitiveness.

Concerning the punitive tuition system, undergraduate students will no longer have to pay tuition up to their eighth semester. For students who wish to attend longer than eight semesters, they will have to pay tuition fees on par with national universities in Korea.

The English lecture system will be revised as well. The lectures for basic mandatory courses will be offered in both Korean and English, in consideration of foreigners and students who wish to take them. For humanities elective courses, in addition to the English courses, more Korean courses will be added.

Regarding the academic workload, though the initial plan was to reduce the workload by up to 20%, further discussion will be held by professors and faculty. They will also consider reducing the number of exams for certain courses.

Currently, a student with a GPA of 2.0 or lower receives a warning starting freshman year. The reformed measures that were retracted shortly after being announced stated that this policy would not apply to the first two semesters. At the time of the board meeting, the measures stated that the current policy will be kept the same.

Moreover, the measures said that a “Student Participation Committee” is to be established to guarantee students’ opinions in school decisions. This committee will be in charge of observing and contributing to school-wide regulations such as the tuition policy and cafeteria management.

However, all these proposals were scrapped, and President Suh has instead installed the “KAIST Emergency Innovation Committee,” which will be tasked with tacking all of the issues that KAIST is facing.