Public outrage erupted after a college dorm manager in China denied a student’s request for a curfew extension to visit a dying relative. -- Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Baidu
BEIJING (SCMP): A college student in China missed her last chance to see a dying relative after her dormitory manager insisted on the curfew rule, sparking public fury.
Many from the Guangdong Eco-Engineering Polytechnic in southern China’s Guangdong province posted the young woman’s accusations against dorm managers’ indifference in their dorm group chat, on November 24.
The woman, whose identity was undisclosed, said her family notified her about a family member’s sudden critical condition at night. She did not disclose details of the condition.
She said she immediately bought a ticket for the earliest flight at 7.30am and received permission to leave from her student supervisor.
But when she intended to leave the dorm around 5am to catch the flight, the dorm’s manager refused to open the gate for her, insisting that the dorm does not allow students to go out during the night curfew from 11pm to 6.30am.
In China, school dormitories enforce curfews to ensure student safety, allowing departures only with special permission or documents for exceptional cases. - Photo: Shutterstock via SCMP
The woman said she begged for one and a half hours, and even knelt down in front of the dorm manager’s room, but the middle-aged woman did nothing but sit on her bed.
The manager insisted that they can only open the gate if students provide an approval document from the college’s student affairs office.
The student tried to call her supervisor and class teacher, but they did not pick up her calls.
She said she missed her flight and the chance to see her dying relative for the last time.
The student questioned the dorm managers: “Rules are dead but people are alive. Whose family doesn’t have an emergency?”
In response to the backlash, the school pledged to train dorm managers to handle emergencies flexibly and protect students’ legal rights. - Photo: Shutterstock / SCMP
On November 25, the college admitted in an announcement that the dorm manager mishandled the case, and said the property management company in charge of the dorm personnel had transferred two dorm managers involved in the case to other positions, and deducted their performance bonuses.
The school promised to train its dorm managers to deal with emergency cases with flexibility and protect the students’ legal rights.
“The college managed its students like primary school students,” one quipped on Weibo.
Another said: “Some people can make things difficult for others even with little power in their hands.”
A third spoke for the dorm managers: “As outsourced personnel, they might fear possible troubles caused by any negligence, so they tend to play it safe and only listen to their managers’ orders. The school has a larger responsibility in this.”
This is not the only case related to dorm management that went viral this week.
On November 24, a student from Zibo Vocational Institute, in eastern China’s Shandong province, complained that her dorm manager supported a student on duty, who rejected entrance of male medical workers who tried to give her medical assistance.
She called for an ambulance after having difficulty in breathing. She was later diagnosed with respiratory alkalosis. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
