On October 19 KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh announced the five members of the election management committee. The position of chairman was given to professor Youn-Sik Park and the other four committee members are Professor Seung Seob Lee, Songcheol Hong, Jong-Tae Lim and Sang Youl Kim.

 

These members were in charge of the processes leading up to the election for the KAIST university council, which was held on November 1. The idea of setting up the council was brought up in President Suh's letters to the faculty members in early October. As a follow-up to the letter, at the faculty conference held on October 13, the council was promised to be established before the end of the month.

 

Shortly after the conference, KAIST released its plans for the establishment of the university council. 10 professors are to be directly appointed by President Suh and the remaining 15 professors are to be elected by the faculty members. The nominations for the fifteen open spaces were received from October 17 to 21. For a professor to become a nomination candidate, he or she must first be nominated by at least five other tenured faculty members.

 

The election was held for four days from October 24 to 27. The voting was done anonymously over the internet and voting rights were given only to tenured professors. For professors who were uncertain about their voting eligibility, a webpage of voting rights confirmation was established on the KAIST Portal website.

 

In total, 25 members were elected and the first meeting of the university council was held on November 1. Also on this day the chairman and vice-chairman for the council were also nominated.

 

KAIST vice-president Yong Hoon Lee commented that through the establishment of the university council, President Suh wishes to improve his communication with the professors and contribute to the rapid advancement of KAIST. He also added that KAIST needs to leave behind its conflicts and focus on reestablishing people's faith in the institute.