On August 24, a conference between the Dean of Student Affairs, Seung Seob Lee, and various student representatives, including the Undergraduate Student Council, was held at the Faculty Club. The conference started out with a short presentation on some of the Dean’s current projects followed by dinner, only after which the true agenda for the meeting was broached.

Before proceeding, the Dean started out by stating how he wasn’t sure of the response he would receive by discussion the serious issues he had on his mind but nonetheless continued.

The first topic of discussion was the forging of medical documents in order to be exempted from classes, which took place close to the end of last semester. The incident ended with 21 students being punished and the school being thoroughly investigated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Although the school tried to deal with the matter internally, an insider tipped off the media, which the Dean claims has made him mistrust the Undergraduate Student Council. This mistrust led to insufficient communication between the two parties and in order to solve this problem, the Dean stated, he has decided to share information not just with the Undergraduate Student Council but with the entire undergraduate student body. In this way the Dean hopes to show that the administration has not hidden anything from the student government and hopefully students no longer have to speculate on the matter.

The second topic was on the tragic deaths of several students in the previous semester, the details of which The KAIST Herald is not at liberty to fully disclose. The crux was of the argument was that though the Dean asked the Undergraduate Student Council to look into the issue, the Council did not give an answer, compelling the Dean to believe that the Council had simply given up on the matter. However, the Council claimed it had tried its best but eventually reached a dead end in their investigation. Here the Council should’ve notified the Dean, but delayed the notification unintentionally, believing that more could be done. The Dean implied that the fact that the Council wasn’t giving him an answer only added to the misunderstanding. The Student Council President Young-chul Kwak later apologized to the Dean.

During the conference, attending students spoke out to add details or ask questions. After a considerable amount of discussion, both parties came to a compromise. The Dean agreed to help the school develop in a direction that makes the students more comfortable and vowed to support the students in their efforts as well. The President of the Undergraduate Student Council agreed to give his support as well and also promised to communicate with the Dean more.