The “Strawberry Party” has been a spring tradition at KAIST since 1995, held annually in the first weeks of April. Students gather around the campus for picnics by friendship group, club, major, lab, and more to share strawberries and enjoy the warm spring weather with cherry blossoms in full bloom. This is a sight no longer seen due to the ongoing pandemic, but efforts have been made to find alternatives.

This year, the KAIST Student Welfare Committee (SWC), which had been responsible for the sale of strawberries purchased from nearby farms during the Strawberry Party period, organized a social media event in place of the canceled in-person Strawberry Party. The event was carried out through Facebook and Instagram, where participants posted photos of food containing strawberries or virtual Strawberry Parties through Zoom with the hashtag “#Spring_StrawberryPartying” to win mobile gift vouchers or cash prizes.

Controversy initially arose with the announcement of the event on March 24, which included the phrase “individual, face-to-face (limited to four people, complying to COVID-19 guidelines) or non-face-to-face [Strawberry Parties]” and an example photo of an in-person Strawberry Party gathering. The discussion quickly spread through the online university community platform Everytime. Some argued that there did not seem to be an issue in stating the above, since meetings of up to four people are legally permitted and Strawberry Parties would likely be held outdoors. One user felt that the issue was blown out of proportion as the intent of the SWC was not to promote gatherings, but to simply accept photo entries of in-person gatherings as long as they adhered to regulations. However, many criticized that an influential student organization allowing in-person gatherings when people are becoming less cautious due to accumulated fatigue from prolonged restrictions inevitably encourage these meetings. Some users argued that online gatherings should take priority over face-to-face meetings for a non-essential activity like the Strawberry Party, especially since the large number of students living in the dormitories puts KAIST at a higher risk of rapid infection. Many also pointed out that larger groups may split themselves into groups of four to participate, which conflicts with social distancing rules.

The SWC responded to these criticisms the same afternoon, apologizing for failing to recognize that the information on the publicity material could be misinterpreted. The committee explained that the intent of specifying the number of people as less than four was to convey that in-person gatherings of five or more people were prohibited. Furthermore, they stated that unlike previous years when the Strawberry Party was organized for students to have fun interacting with others while supporting nearby strawberry farms, the purpose of this year’s event was to ensure that this KAIST tradition is not forgotten. “We would be grateful if you would consider this year’s “enjoying the Strawberry Party” as remembering the original Strawberry Party by participating in the event if you have the chance to buy strawberry-related food or drinks in your daily life,” the SWC wrote. The Strawberry Party event notice was soon modified to change group Strawberry Parties to non-face-to-face activities, where photos of Zoom screens would be accepted.

The Strawberry Party event took place from March 29 to April 4. A total of 176 individuals and 26 teams participated in the event, and other KAIST members organized and held their own contactless Strawberry Parties to carry on the tradition.