College campus made more accessible to outsiders postpandemic, though slowly

The more than three years of pandemic regulations have left their mark in many spheres of our lives, including campuses that were once public domains, although recently a number of campuses have been made more accessible to outsiders.

I recently made inquiries regarding the protocols for outsiders to enter school campuses.

One teacher from a university said outsiders need to first get an invitation code from someone in the school.

A colleague teaching at universities in the city said he had to check in at the gate, and admission was restricted to alumni.

One downtown university campus is open to students' parents if the student in question assists with an application, but such visits could only take place from 3pm to 5pm on Fridays.

Against this backdrop, it is comforting to know that some universities are being made more accessible.

For instance, Shanghai Normal University, following the latest updates, only requires outside visitors to have their ID cards scanned to enter.

There have been observations that, in the wake of years of pandemic control, we are witnessing a more isolationist campus which, accustomed to the lethargic order and pace first brought about by lockdown, is proving reluctant to reopen its campus to the outside world. This is even as the outside world becomes more proactive in returning to pre-pandemic status.

I would venture that this tendency to err on the side of the caution is probably rather typical of the general attitude and mindsets when it comes to the lifting – or easing, to be more accurate – of pandemic control measures.

We are steadily yet incrementally closer to normalcy when it comes to the optimization of some pandemic control measures. For instance, on April 5, when I traveled to my hometown in Lianyungang, first by taking the Metro, and then by high-speed rail, I found it delightful that I did not have to wear a mask throughout the journey.

Still, when I looked around, I found that most passengers around me still chose to wear their masks.

For one thing, Metro management probably did not find it necessary to advertise the latest policy changes. To this day, the messages from Metro train loudspeakers about mask-wearing remain unchanged: All passengers should wear masks properly throughout the journey, they say.

In public administration, the reluctance to step out of the comfort zone of an isolated state could be detrimental in a number of senses.

For one, an isolated campus hinders the sharing and exchange of information, scholarship, and expertise which colleges and universities should facilitate. For instance, many forums and seminars that used to take place on the campus have, given the lack of outside participation, languished into more or less in-house affairs.

The psychological inertia to perpetuate a state that had been imposed during the pandemic as an emergency measure can be explained.

As one expert observed recently: We had been sympathetic to kids long confined to online lectures at their home, until I heard parents say that, far from being that their kids were looking forward to returning to their schools, they have become wary of venturing out of doors, or even afraid of coming into contact with physical places and real people.

Peng Kaiping from Tsinghua University, commenting on the damage and anxiety that younger generations had been suffering during the three-year pandemic, and how they had become sullen and retreating, said this mindset of insularity should be subjected to a long healing process of explicit openness.

An opened up campus has multiple advantages.

I have heard recently that some parents have not yet been able to see the campus of their children's schools. To make up for that deficiency, some chose to stay in hotels adjacent to the campus, so they could at least enjoy a not too-distant view of the campus. A more accessible campus would make things much easier.