Recently, an article titled "Starting from Today's Race with Security Guards - Peking University's Doorman System, It's Time to Change" has attracted widespread attention on social media.
The article, written by Li Zhi, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Engineering, discusses the inconvenience of entering and exiting Peking University's gates, as well as reflections on the janitor system.
In the face of the attention of the outside world, on December 21, Peking University responded that it was promoting the opening up in an orderly manner, balancing the campus order while meeting the needs of society as much as possible.
This is not the first time that the issue of opening up the doors of colleges and universities has been discussed. In May this year, the topic of Fudan University's opening to the outside world was on social media. In addition, there are differences in the degree to which different universities are open to the outside world. For example, Minzu University of China and Beijing University of Foreign Chinese can enter the school by swiping their ID cards and cooperating with the turnstile verification; Non-NCCU personnel need to make an appointment in advance; Fudan University allows non-university personnel to enter the campus by scanning the QR code, but they still need to swipe their ID card or Shanghai QR code.
How to balance safety and convenience when colleges and universities open their gates?
One
As Mr. Li Zhi mentioned in the article, the guard management system of Peking University is "strictly guarded", especially during the rush hour, there is often a long queue in front of the turnstile at the east gate of Peking University, which causes great inconvenience to teachers and students. In the article, Li Zhi recounted his experience of crossing the turnstile and being chased by security guards, which staged a rather comical scene.
The "hurdle" of Peking University professors reflects to a certain extent that the brand of "epidemic prevention management" still exists. Although it is much better than the previous complete closure of the campus due to epidemic prevention and control, it still brings a lot of inconvenience to teachers and students entering and leaving the campus.
In fact, the opening and closing of university doors involves many aspects such as the social role of universities, teaching order, and resource allocation. Judging from the actual situation of campus management at home and abroad, there is no standard answer to how universities should open up to the society.
Considering the characteristics of the school, its geographical location, its educational philosophy and other factors, some universities may pay more attention to social integration and be more open. Some universities are more focused on internal construction and are relatively closed. From the perspective of campus management mode, there are roughly the following three types.
Completely open to the public. As a temple of knowledge, the openness of universities has always attracted much attention. From the experience of foreign countries, the degree of openness of universities varies according to factors such as region, culture and history, and many universities at home and abroad choose to open up to the public. For example, many colleges and universities in the United States are completely open to the society without walls, which is related to the concept of running universities in the United States, which believes that universities are run by the society and that university resources should be shared by the society.
Similarly, there are precedents for domestic universities to be completely open to the public, and Peking University, when Cai Yuanpei was president, advocated that universities should be open to the outside world. The style of auditing at Peking University has prevailed since then. According to some data, half of the country's double-first-class universities have been opened to the outside world.
Limited opening. Although foreign universities generally pay attention to openness and inclusiveness, not all of them are completely open to the society, considering campus management and other factors, it is the common choice of many universities at home and abroad to open to the society to a limited extent. For example, a visit to Harvard University requires an appointment in advance and is limited to the school's designated visit times. Secondly, visitors need to abide by certain codes of conduct and respect the school's educational environment and students' academic Xi order. In China, most colleges and universities also adopt an appointment system, and some important places have strict restrictions on non-university teachers and students, such as some important laboratories.
Closed management. During the epidemic period, many colleges and universities at home and abroad have adopted fully closed management, which is actually a special measure in a special period, and eventually it is necessary to gradually open up to the society. However, some universities choose to be closed all year round for some special reasons. Some colleges and universities may close their campuses during special periods or events, such as exam periods, holidays, graduation ceremonies, etc.
So it's not like all universities are "open-minded" and don't have walls.
Two
The university itself is a public resource with a unique status and value.
It is true that an open university can attract more scholars, students and researchers at home and abroad, and promote the dissemination and exchange of knowledge. However, it should also be noted that excessive openness may lead to security and order problems, affecting normal teaching and research.
From the perspective of society, schools should be open to the public, and the inspection of ID cards, work permits, student IDs, etc. should not be a necessary condition for entering the school. From the perspective of school management, opening may affect the teaching order of schools, crowd out educational resources, and even bring security problems.
As a part of society, universities need to be open to the outside world and absorb social resources, but also need to maintain a certain degree of closure in order to maintain the unique cultural and educational environment of the campus.
How to balance openness and management is still an urgent problem to be solved, and there are many factors that need to be weighed behind it.
Safety considerations. Many universities have struggled to make up their minds to open up to the public, largely due to security concerns. In recent years, some bad behaviors on college campuses have made it more difficult for colleges and universities to manage. In particular, many young students are just starting to live independently, which puts higher demands on safety. For example, it is difficult for outsiders to enter the dormitory area at will, and there are also commercial activities on campus.
Public opinion factors. As for whether the campus is open to the outside world, not only the on-campus personnel are concerned, but also the off-campus personnel are also generally concerned about the admission appointment and other issues. Before the pandemic, there was no debate about whether colleges and universities should be completely open to society. If the measures related to the opening of the campus are not explained to the outside world, it is easy to have poor information, and public opinion will criticize the school one-sidedly, triggering public opinion.
Management factors. Not all university campuses are public areas, and there are some special areas. For many universities, libraries, stadiums, etc. are easy to open to the public, but areas such as key laboratories and research centers need to be well guarded. In reality, there are too many unfamiliar faces pouring into the campus in actual management, and it is difficult to define the "boundary" very clearly.
These factors also often put universities in a dilemma.
Three
"Open schools" are not the same as "open schools".
The relevant laws in mainland China stipulate that universities have the right to decide on their own internal management systems and rules and regulations, including the issue of campus opening.
How to formulate an open plan suitable for the school, which not only meets the needs of the society, but does not affect the order of the campus, is a test for the school.
As far as decision-making is concerned, campus opening needs to listen to the opinions of all sectors of society, so that everyone can participate in the process of opening up.
Listen to needs. Teachers and students are the main body of the university, and they have a direct sense of the openness of the campus. They should be listened to and understood what they expect from the open-door policy. Only by truly understanding the voices of teachers and students can we formulate more reasonable and practical policies.
Shared decision-making. Openness is not a one-time process, and requires the participation of everyone. Teachers and students should be part of the decision-making, and all sectors of society should be involved in discussions and suggestions. Only in this way can we find the most suitable balance for everyone on the issue of campus openness.
Trust and win-win. Social trust is an important factor affecting the development of schools, and mutual trust between teachers, students, administrators, and society is very important in the question of whether the campus is open. Through listening and shared decision-making, trust can be built and social support for the long-term development of the school can be obtained.
In terms of measures, the opening-up policy should vary from school to school, with different characteristics and needs of different schools.
On the one hand, schools should meet the needs of society, so that more people can enter the campus and feel the charm of knowledge; On the other hand, the school should also maintain campus order and ensure the normal operation of teaching and scientific research. A specific time period can be set up for the public to visit the campus, and at the same time, corresponding management measures should be improved to ensure the safety and order of the campus.
There is no doubt that universities have a wide range of social influence, and at the same time, they also shoulder the mission of cultivating outstanding talents and promoting social progress. Opening up the campus and getting more people involved can help make this happen. However, we also need to be vigilant to ensure that opening up does not affect the normal order of teaching and research.
The issue of "opening and closing" the university gate is not only related to campus governance, but also to the social role and mission of the university. In the process of exploration, we need to weigh the interests of all parties more carefully to ensure that the opening of universities not only serves the society and the public, but also ensures the safety and stability of university campuses. (Source: "Shandong Publicity" WeChat public account)