On September 5, online KAIST communities were flooded with criticisms of several student clubs, based on rumors of them meeting on and off campus amid the second wave COVID-19 outbreak.

The controversy began when an anonymous post on Everytime, a popular university community app, reported a club that allegedly held a welcoming party in Eoeun-dong with more than 20 members. The writer claimed that the club members even posted  on social media about the welcoming party, and alleged that some of the participants came from outside of Daejeon specifically for the event. 

After the initial posting, many posts emerged criticizing the club and demanding answers. The conversation revolved around whether holding such meetings were appropriate in the first place, and even if so, whether posting about such events on social media was tactful.

The conversation moved on to the greater problem of many other large meetings among student organizations and undergraduate student clubs. A few anonymous users named other organizations and clubs they had witnessed holding meetings with their members in person on or near the campus. However, some refuted the claim that student organizations had been approved for small scale meetings. Freshman classes who had start-of-the-semester parties also were called out for being “irresponsible”.

The KAIST Undergraduate Association (UA) released a club event guideline in March when the COVID-19 cases surged in Korea and KAIST switched to exclusively online classes. The guideline stated that the school strongly advised against any gathering of more than five people; if such an event was inevitable, the club must submit a report form and go through health and safety education. Some posts also mentioned that KAIST Undergraduate Student Clubs Union emphasized multiple times that clubs should not hold face-to-face meetings.

None of the alleged clubs and organizations have released any statements regarding the matter.