hankyoreh

By Jeon Jin-sik　

Making his way though the pouring rain, comedian Kim Je-dong, 37, arrived a the audio-visual room of KAIST’s humanities and social sciences wing 20 minutes ahead of the appointed time. He was scheduled to give a special lecture, something made possible thanks to his relationship with Professor Jeong Jae-seung, a bioengineering professor at the school.

Making the students laugh by cracking, “Wouldn’t it be really nice if instead of rain, makkeolli fell from the sky?” he continued, “What is the word that comes to mind now? Let’s discuss it together.”

Kim talked about his experience as the MC for the funeral procession of late President Roh Moo-hyun.

“I had a really tough time, taking harsh criticism from both progressives and conservatives,” Kim said. “But, there is a reason I brought this up. You have to listen to evaluations from others, but they shouldn’t control your life. Nobody’s evaluation can substantively evaluate you.”

Kim offered words of comfort for the students tormented by the burden of grades, and presented a direction for their thoughts.

Kim told KAIST students not to be angry and solve their problems through laughter.

“Try smiling when you talk to the chancellor,” he said.

“While smiling, ask, ‘Can’t we have classes in Korean? Can’t you trim the tuition a bit?’” he told them.

He did not forget to tell them to respond wisely. “It is not your fault. You are in a merciless reality. That is all. He he.”

After the two-hour lecture ended, the faces of the roughly 200 students who attended lit up. When asked why, one student responded, “I thought of happiness, laughter. I was impressed when he said that the moment you think something isn’t a big deal, you can see the real big deal.”

Another said, “I also thought it seems things promised at the school just a month ago were not being kept.”

Emptying out of the lecture, the students rushed to their dorms or the library. Finals were just 10 days away. Their rush was because the school has yet to retract its punitive tuition system, which assigns differential tuition rates according to a student’s grades for those who earn less than a 3.0.

Meanwhile, within the school, criticism continues of Chancellor Seo Nam-pyo’s self-righteous leadership style.

“The most important thing was to overcome the backwardness of the decision-making structure, but opinions were not even properly collected for Vision 2025 plan, prepared ahead of celebratory events to mark the 40th anniversary of the school,” said a professor of the IT college. “Despite the fact that all pending issues are being discussed within the emergency innovation committee, Seo and some appointed professors are creating the plan without communicating.”

“After crafting the plan, Seo listened twice to the opinion of some school constituents, but the plan was not considered within the innovation committee,” KAIST Planning Division head Park Hee-kyung. KAIST is scheduled to release its Vision 2025 plan around May 16. If professors and students protest, it could cause another debate.

There are also concerns that the significance of the string of student suicides this year is being forgotten. KAIST had already witnessed its fourth student suicide of 2011 in April.

A second-year student said, “The school atmosphere has cooled off compared to a month ago, but I also think that people are gradually forgetting the deaths because everybody is so busy studying for tests.”

Professor Jeong recently left this message on Twitter. “I am depressed because although KAIST needs to overcome today’s crisis, it seems the crisis is being forgotten.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]