Three years after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), freshmen across the nation were once again welcomed to partake in orientation activities according to the tradition. The Saenaegi Baeumteo, as known in Korean, is a yearly event held at the start of each new school year where newly admitted students get a glimpse of Korea University’s (KU) policies and are given useful tips to facilitate their student life. 

Following the relaxation of COVID-19 rules and the recent car accident causing the death of five KU students, many universities showed more concern for safety measures and held in-depth preventative presentations. KU did not lag behind, as found in the declarations of several students. Ravael Rajan (‘21, Psychology) confirmed with The Granite Tower (GT) that a speech was given to ensure a safe social experience devoid of inappropriate or hurtful comments — “indeed a pleasant surprise”, as he noted.

Representatives of the Student Council of the Linguistics department Lee Gi-hun and Du Na-rin (‘22, Linguistics) shared in a press statement with GT their experience as organizing staff. “We were very excited but nervous at the same time,” they explained, emphasizing the presence of older students who had never participated offline.