Student Club Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Student Club Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • reporter Choi Eun-je
  • 승인 2020.09.03 15:30
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▲Closed doors of performance clubs
▲Closed doors of performance clubs

 

The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly changed people’s daily lives, and this is also true of student club activities. The 2020 Spring Semester was a harsh time for student clubs as most students stayed at home to take online classes. The Postech Times interviewed Kim Min-sik (ME 18), the chief of the Student Club Union, to verify changes in student club activities due to COVID-19 and the Student Club Union’s actions towards dealing with the situation.

Please explain the change in student club operating regulations after the COVID-19 outbreak.
The government has called for restraint in student activities after the outbreak. Following the government’s policy, the university’s Infectious Disease Control team also decided to restrain student club activities as much as possible and to have activities only on a smaller scale. Regular events attended by large numbers of people, such as general meetings, membership training (MT), and performance practices, are prohibited, but small-scale activities, such as having meals, are permitted. Also, there is no support for living in the dormitory for club activities during this summer recess, and students from other regions are strictly banned from coming to school for club activities. The regulations above were brought about during the regular club representatives’ meeting held in June, and students can be punished if these regulations are violated.

In addition to the change in club operating regulations, please explain how the Student Club Union responded to the COVID-19 outbreak.
After the Freshman Orientation was canceled, we planned to hold a student club tour. However, the COVID-19 situation worsened, and the student club tour was canceled due to the confirmation of online courses. Then, the regular club representatives’ meeting was held online during the spring semester, and we discussed how to allocate club supporting funds and relocate club rooms. Also, we revised the self-governing rules altogether. The spring semester was full of sadness, because we could not carry out our planned events nor make use of approximately one million KRW worth of coupons in the club brochure.

If there were any student club activities after the COVID-19 outbreak, please explain them.
During the spring semester, as far as I know, academic clubs, some exhibitory clubs, and hobby clubs carried out activities online. For example, the robot club POWER-ON, carried out a project to produce robots in groups and conducted CAD and Arduino mentoring. On the other hand, it was difficult for performance or sports clubs to arrange activities, as they could not conduct such activities online. Same as the spring semester, large-scale club activities are prohibited during the summer vacation. Student clubs are continuing their activities in small groups or having seminars online.

From the fall semester, online courses will begin. Please explain how the Student Club Union plans to respond to club activities during the fall semester.
As this semester is conducted online, we believe that there will be a big disruption in the activities of each club, as in the spring semester. There are many clubs that will find it difficult to continue their activities online, but we plan to work with such clubs and support them. Furthermore, we plan to discuss with the school and to expand the range of clubs that can receive financial support for student activities, so that all clubs can receive this benefit. The Student Club Union’s goal this semester is to make every effort to keep club activities on.