In late May, Doongji (meaning “nest” in Korean) declared candidacy for the 11th KAIST Freshman Student Council. Candidate Han Hui Kim is running for presidency, and assisting him is his vice presidential candidate Chang-su Ham.
On June 2, the debate for the KAIST Freshman Student Council candidate was held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Terman Hall of the Creative Learning Building (E11). There was a panel of three, composed of the editor-in-chief of KAIST Times, the incumbent president of the Freshman Student Council, and the president of the Undergraduate Student Council.
The debate was divided into four sections, of which the first two dealt with the various pledges of the candidates. The first session was on the academic affairs of freshmen. Kim pledged to use the smart-board more effectively and to gain feedback from current freshmen in improving the “Happy College Life” campaign. The second half focused on freshmen welfare. They are aiming to change the On-line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) shuttle schedules so that more people could use them during peak times, and are considering opening a League of Legends (a popular online game) competition among the freshmen classes. The candidates said, “We think it is a way to increase unity within a class, even if someone does not know the exact mechanics of the game.” The third session was a free debate session, with questions from the audience and online spectators on social networking service (SNS) sites. One interesting question came from the audience: “How are you going to resolve the issue of no drinking in the orientation period?” The candidates responded that they are in favor of no drinking during that period, and will enforce it heavily, especially to the proctors.
Wrapping up the debate were the final statements from the candidates and critique from the panel. Kim commented, “By having a chance to hear a lot of opinions, it was a meaningful time for us, and we believe that in order to fulfill all the pledges we made, we need to look further into the future and work diligently.”