Since March this year, Zhengzhou University's practice of "non-campus staff refusing to enter the school" has indeed caused quite a controversy. However, Zheng Da's practice is not unique. In May this year, some campuses of Nanjing University, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing Institute of Technology and other universities installed campus access control, and students also need campus cards to verify their identity.
From a longer historical point of view, whether universities should set up access control, whether universities should have walls and whether they should be open to the public is an old topic that has been controversial for more than ten years, from protecting students' safety and maintaining teaching order to the so-called "university spirit" and "university education and public education". However, in most cases, people just hold either-or discussions from their own standpoint.
So is the access control system of Zhengzhou University. It is reported that people who are eager to enter the campus of Zheng Da University have two main purposes: to visit and use sports facilities. In other colleges and universities, the situation is similar, and some students from other schools come to meet their classmates or participate in lectures and activities on campus. In any case, whether parents who bring their children to visit the campus or citizens who want to run on the school playground, their demands are not unreasonable. This is because universities should not only cultivate their own students, but also take into account the mission of improving national literacy. Secondly, most universities in China are public universities, and it is reasonable for taxpayers to enjoy some resources without affecting the order of universities. What's more, campus opening is the current international mainstream. Even those famous private universities in Europe and America have no access control or even walls, and the campus is integrated with the urban area.
Universities are open to the society, and it should be undoubted that people should use university resources reasonably on the premise of observing the rules. However, the safety of students, the order of teaching and the sanitary environment of the campus can never be ignored. After all, providing students with a comfortable and safe learning environment is the primary significance of university education.
In this regard, many flexible measures can be implemented. In fact, there is no need to shut all the tourists out. As long as it is not during the examination period or other special periods, ordinary visitors can enter the campus after registering their identity. Even if a large number of tourists enter, we can ensure safety and order by limiting the number of tourists and diverting them. For example, Peking University is the favorite place for tourists in winter and summer vacations. In order to meet the needs of visitors without affecting the normal order of the school, Peking University will also require visitors to make an appointment to register and stipulate that they are allowed to enter at specific school gates. And now many colleges and universities have multiple campuses. The old campus is generally in the main city, and the surrounding area is crowded and very prosperous. The new campus is mostly in the suburbs, with fewer residents around it, and the outside world has little demand for university resources. Perhaps the old campus can be fully opened, and the new campus can moderately control the number of visitors.
In short, it is the best policy to flexibly deal with the entrance control of universities in combination with the actual situation and not to engage in "one size fits all".