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A college dorm manager in southern China faced public backlash after refusing a student from seeing a dying family member. The incident, which occurred at Guangdong Eco-Engineering Polytechnic, has drawn widespread criticism over the inflexibility of dormitory management policies.
The student, whose identity remains undisclosed, was informed late at night on November 24 about a critically ill family member. She immediately booked a 7:30 a.m. flight and obtained verbal permission from her student supervisor to leave early. However, when she tried to exit the dormitory at 5 a.m., the dorm manager refused to unlock the gate, citing the dorm’s curfew from 11 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
Despite pleading for over an hour and even kneeling outside the manager’s room, the middle-aged woman reportedly remained unresponsive, sitting on her bed. The manager insisted that only an official approval document from the college’s student affairs office would allow her to override the curfew, a requirement the student could not fulfill at the time.
Unable to leave, the student missed her flight and her chance to say goodbye to her dying relative. Frustrated, she later questioned the rigidity of the rules: “Rules are dead, but people are alive. Whose family doesn’t have emergencies?”
The college issued a public statement on November 25, admitting that the dormitory staff mishandled the situation. It announced disciplinary actions against two dorm managers involved, including reassignments and performance bonus deductions. Additionally, the school pledged to improve emergency protocols and train dormitory staff to handle exceptional situations more flexibly.
The incident quickly went viral on Chinese social media, sparking heated debates about the strict enforcement of dormitory rules. Many netizens criticized the college’s management, with one user commenting, “This school treats its students like primary school children.” Another wrote, “Some people will go out of their way to make others’ lives harder, even with just a little power in their hands.”
Others, however, pointed to systemic issues. “These dorm managers are outsourced staff who might fear repercussions for any mistakes. The school bears greater responsibility for failing to empower them with proper guidelines,” one commenter noted.
Source: SCMP
