Despite alcohol warnings, students continue festival binge tradition
Beer bottles and snacks are littered that appear to have been enjoyed by participants of a university festival. / Screen capture from YouTube
By Ko Dong-hwan
Despite the government's warning not to drink alcohol at festivals across colleges and universities, participants still found ways of enjoying the long-lived tradition of over-indulging by bringing in liquor from outside campuses.
Many post-secondary schools host annual festivals during spring. Students invite friends from outside to enjoy food, drinks and meet new co-eds, while K-pop singers are often invited to perform, adding a zing to the festivities.
Now the Ministry of Education and National Tax Service has warned schools not to sell alcohol inside campuses during the festivals. The measure aims to prevent participants from getting obnoxiously drunk and causing problems at school facilities and neighborhoods or getting into physical clashes.
But the students have found a loophole in the government measure ― they could still bring in drinks from outside. “Fun guaranteed without alcohol!” and “Alcohol not sold, please bring your own” are examples of festival advertisements from student unions this year.
Sejong University in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul ― one of the schools that allowed drinks from outside ― held a festival from May 8-10. Some participants who exited Gunja Subway Station near the school headed to a convenience store near the station to grab cans of beer. They said it would be “awkward not to get drunk in any college festival.”
Likewise, retailers around other schools selling liquor also benefited from the alcohol warning, as students bought beer, soju and other alcoholic drinks.
Psy, above, at a Gachon University festival in 2012 and rock band Buzz performs during a Kunkuk University festival in 2015. / Courtesy of Naver blog, Twitter
The latest government move received a backlash from students who could not understand the reason for it. The students sat mid-term exams from late April to early May nationwide and, for some of them, school festivals were a need to ease the stress ― not to mention a desire to drink alcohol.
But the government's warning apparently came too late, with some schools receiving it only days before the start of their festivals. Trying to change the decades-long tradition without consulting student bodies also upset students.
Sungkyunkwan University Student Union President Cho Ki-hwa said the school received the warning one week before the festival began.
“The time to prepare for a non-alcohol festival was not enough,” the president said. “Furthermore, some companies that had promised to provide support for our festival canceled the deal after hearing about the alcohol warning.”
Students said money earned from sales of alcohol inside campuses during festivals was used to support student welfare but the government “obviously wasn't aware of such practice and instead gave the benefits to convenience stores near the schools.”
Others said the government should have introduced a method that mutually helped students and businesses within the campus vicinity, not just the businesses.
But other voices welcomed the government move. They said they detested students getting drunk and misbehaving and that true festivals “should be free of alcohol.”
A Korea University freshman who does not drink alcohol said he had been called a party-pooper because he did not join others. He said he hoped this year could be a chance for school festivals to introduce non-alcohol culture.