Drinks, games, events, presents, and celebrities are some examples of what most students expect from the Korea University (KU) May Festival Week. Have students thought about the origin and actual meaning of this festival? Most students would consider festivals as chances to skip classes and enjoy the romance of campus life. However, we should think beyond the mere enjoyment that students can have during this event.
University festivals these days are focused too much on drinking and fooling around, and KU is not an exception. The festival of KU is called Daedongjae, which means becoming a large union. Therefore, strictly speaking, KU students should pursue to become a whole community through the May Festival Week. However, so far KU students seem to have been achieving this through the easiest way, which is by simply drinking and playing games.
Last year's Daedongjae circled around the idea of a theme park in which students could enjoy various activities under certain themes. However, this theme did not have much of an effect in allowing KU students to become a large cohesive unity. Therefore, this year's Festival Preparatory Committee decided to arrange the theme of KU May Festival Week 2015 as the KU Rail, with a motto of “An escape from everyday life.” The railroad theme of the festival was interpreted to be the best way to accentuate students' escape from everyday life.
The Festival Preparatory Committee aims to revitalize the true meaning of a festival by allowing students to forget about studies for a while and feel the joys of life at university. If students already think that the greatest merit of it is eating and drinking, then it is the job of the committee to arrange the events that lead students to spontaneously discover what it takes to be a community. The objectives that the Festival Preparatory Committee claims to pursue are all great, and there is a high chance that nobody would doubt that. However, whether the committee would be able to differentiate this year’s festival from the past ones is still difficult to predict. Its focus on escaping from everyday life may bring them back to drinking and playing simple games, and arranging booths that do not leave any meaning or lessons for students.
KU students came to this prestigious university to learn new things and meet people who can influence them to develop into better people. However, students seem to be forgetting this advantage they have of studying at KU. While the main homepage of KU describes the May Festival as an event that shows “students’ intellect and romance of campus life,” the festivals we see today are lacking, or even absent of intellect. Although festivals usually put enjoyment of participants as the primary aim, university festivals should be considered different from any other festival. As they are events planned and carried out by students independently, students should consider them as a chance to show how original and intellectual they can be.
