The 11th  KAIST-POSTECH Science War was held in POSTECH campus during Sep. 14-15. Although remarkable efforts of players and staffs were fully shown, whole aspects of the progress in the Science War seemed cold. In general, the number of spectators and cheering were minimal.
Aloof attitude of POSTECH students in each event has been an issue for a long time, including not only festivals on campus but also external events like the Science War. To solve this problem, the Science War Preparatory Committee has provided many remembrance and cheering tools, and even held galore prize lottery in the eve of the Science War for students who enrolled as supporters. This year the Science War Preparatory Committee provided stick balloons, glow-in-the-dark hairbands, stickers, fans, bookmarks, L-holders, T-shirts and disposable raincoats. As premiums of prize lottery, four combination machines, two speakers, eleven tumblers, two wireless mice, and one-terabyte hard disks ware prepared. Although these premiums were sponsored through the Student Association, the price of all cheering tools that the Science War Preparatory Committee prepared was above 8,000 KRW per person (based on the budget submitted to the Student Association). Like this, the Science War Preparatory Committee prepared a lot of things for supporters, and more than 450 students enrolled as supporters in this Science War. Needless to say, this is not a small number.
However, when games started, participation of supporters steeply decreased. People wearing red t-shirts were hardly seen, and even lots of premiums lost their owners because not all of supporters came. Over half of supporters came to the opening ceremony, but in the baseball game, which was interrupted by rain, only about 50 people including rooters and broadcasting staffs came. Only 41 supporters came to the soccer game. The AI and LOL (League of Legends) competition, which were held in the gymnasium, only drew about 140 supporters. Considering the number of enrolled supporters was about 450, that is extremely low. How shameful! The consciousness and participation of students as supporters seems so miserable that the rumor, enrolling as a supporter only for t-shirts, is considered real. That eats away the prestige of our university.
The problem also lies with the Science War Preparatory Committee who recruited supporters, since they just asked people to enroll without asserting the need for actual cheering. Even though they advertised through various places and methods, our school spirit is so low that they succumbed to the negative assumption that supporters would not participate. The attitude of the Science War Preparatory Committee should be more outstanding and positive, and supporters must act in a mature manner.