University sponsor plate 'vandalized'
By Yang Jian |
May 28, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TSINGHUA University was forced to remove a controversial plate crediting a fashion brand on one of its buildings after a protester spray-painted over it, China News Service reported yesterday.
The prestigious university, which celebrated its centennial last month, hit the headlines this week when it named a building after Jeanswest - a domestic brand of casual clothing.
Many students claimed this was too commercial.
A sign reading "Jeanswest Building" in Chinese and English was attached to the No. 4 building on Monday.
But an accompanying plate that noted the company's contributions to education was removed on Wednesday after being "vandalized."
The plate was spray-painted in white with red characters reading "No. 4 teaching building" - the former name of the building.
The protester also wrote "I love Tsinghua" on the plate, according to pictures posted on domestic microblogging site Weibo.com.
Huang Jianhua, vice president of the Tsinghua University Education Foundation, said officials have yet to decide whether they will reattach the plate, Tsinghua's campus newspaper, the Qingxin Times, reported.
Xu Mei, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, yesterday said the university had the right to receive donations and name buildings after donors, but she suggested it ask for suggestions from teachers and students before naming a building.
"The university should be able to find a more suitable way to express gratitude to donors" she said.
The debate heated up on Weibo.com after a picture was posted online on Tuesday. It soon attracted more than 90,000 comments.
More than 60 percent of web users voted against the naming of the building in an online survey launched by the official microblog of the university yesterday. Many said the name of the brand was improper for a university, but some 20 percent supported the Jeanswest sign.
Jeanswest is not the first company to have a building named after it at Tsinghua. In 2003, a teaching building was named the Yue Yuen Building after the Taiwan-based Yue Yuen Corporation, a sportswear manufacturer.
The prestigious university, which celebrated its centennial last month, hit the headlines this week when it named a building after Jeanswest - a domestic brand of casual clothing.
Many students claimed this was too commercial.
A sign reading "Jeanswest Building" in Chinese and English was attached to the No. 4 building on Monday.
But an accompanying plate that noted the company's contributions to education was removed on Wednesday after being "vandalized."
The plate was spray-painted in white with red characters reading "No. 4 teaching building" - the former name of the building.
The protester also wrote "I love Tsinghua" on the plate, according to pictures posted on domestic microblogging site Weibo.com.
Huang Jianhua, vice president of the Tsinghua University Education Foundation, said officials have yet to decide whether they will reattach the plate, Tsinghua's campus newspaper, the Qingxin Times, reported.
Xu Mei, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, yesterday said the university had the right to receive donations and name buildings after donors, but she suggested it ask for suggestions from teachers and students before naming a building.
"The university should be able to find a more suitable way to express gratitude to donors" she said.
The debate heated up on Weibo.com after a picture was posted online on Tuesday. It soon attracted more than 90,000 comments.
More than 60 percent of web users voted against the naming of the building in an online survey launched by the official microblog of the university yesterday. Many said the name of the brand was improper for a university, but some 20 percent supported the Jeanswest sign.
Jeanswest is not the first company to have a building named after it at Tsinghua. In 2003, a teaching building was named the Yue Yuen Building after the Taiwan-based Yue Yuen Corporation, a sportswear manufacturer.
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