The 2014 Spring Festival at KAIST has been delayed after a vote by the Central Executive Committee. The Central Executive Committee is composed of student heads from each department’s student councils. The festival, instead, will take place during the fall semester. The delay is a result of the nationwide trend of colleges and secondary schools cancelling festivals in mourning of the Sewol ferry disaster. This was followed by another recent tragic incident at KAIST involving a student’s suicide.

The Spring Festival was originally planned to take place during the week of May 19, and some classes were scheduled to be cancelled during the festival. However, having postponed the festival, an alternative event is being planned by Imagination Effect, the school’s event planning committee. Rather than having loud and cheery events, such as concerts by bands and singers, the alternative event will be more similar to the strawberry parties held in April, focusing on rest and recovery so that students can get together in a calmer and friendlier setting. This event aims to allow students to get closer to each other in a setting that does not violate the solemn atmosphere that has settled on the nation.

The Undergraduate Student Council (USC) also prepared packets of chocolates, stickers, and a letter from President Sung Mo Kang as part of their efforts to promote the theme of rest and recovery. Members of the USC went around the whole campus passing them out to students in every room in all dorms on campus. Students who were not in their rooms should have seen the gifts taped to their doors (See page 12 for the detailed interview about the event)

No specific date has yet been chosen for the alternative event, but it is tentatively planned to take place during the last week of May or the first week of June. Although many students were looking forward to the Spring Festival, its alternative will serve as a good opportunity for students to move past the sad news in recent times.

The annulment of the Spring Festival was received with mixed sentiments among the student population. Some say it was in line with the general mood of mourning for the Sewol ferry passengers, while others demand for more meaningful expressions of grief. (See page 11 for the debate on the cancellation of the Spring Festival)