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UPDATED: June 13, 2011 NO. 24 JUNE 16, 2011
What Price Universities' Sponsorship?
 
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Above: A Tsinghua student takes pictures of the Jeanswest Building on May 24 Below: The nameplate of the introduction of Jeanswest has now been removed from the Jeanswest Building (XINHUA) 

The No.4 teaching building of Tsinghua University was named after a manufacturer of leisure clothing Jeanswest Fashion Co. Ltd in May. On a wall of the building, which was named Jeanswest Building, there is also a nameplate with inscriptions about the introduction of the company. The issue has been the subject of heated debate in China.

It has been found on the university's education foundation website that 14 institutes, libraries and buildings on the campus are open to businesses' bidding for the naming rights, which will involve a fund of 750 million yuan ($115.4 million).

A website survey shows only 25 percent of the 4,000 participants say it's OK to name a teaching building after the company's name, while 57 percent are opposed to this type of naming. Opponents are critical of the money worship of the university management, saying there is obviously a gap between Jeanswest, a clothing company, and Tsinghua University, China's top university.

Tsinghua University responded to the public's query one day later, claiming this is a common practice all over the world. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has the Sloan School of Management and the University of Oxford has the Said Business School—both are named after donors.

The latest news is the nameplate has been removed from the building. It is uncertain whether it will be put back.

Opponents

Ding Hongxian (www.xinhuanet.com): Naming a university building after a certain company or celebrity is not new. Chinese universities have many teaching buildings and libraries named after Run Run Shaw. This is to commemorate Mr. Shaw and his passion for charity and education. If buildings are named in this way, students will welcome them undoubtedly. Around the world, naming university buildings in return for donations is a universal practice.

But does this mean university buildings can be named after anyone that offers a huge donation? I'm afraid there must be a bottom line, that is, the naming should not affect the image of the university. The spirit of university and the nature of university education should not be corroded by commercial operations. Otherwise, it's not simply a naming issue, but an advertorial issue.

It's unknown how much Jeanswest paid for the naming rights. I guess the cost must be huge. Is Tsinghua University so short of money? As one of China's top universities, it's impossible for Tsinghua to lack money. But it is bending to commercial sponsorship and even its own students feel disappointed with this practice.

Universities' responsibility is to cultivate talent, and so it should try to win society's respect by maintaining a relatively independent personality. It should not mix up education and commercial practice.

If teaching buildings can be named after certain commercial brands, then office buildings and libraries will be, too. When a campus is filled with varied advertorial, will it still be a campus?

What worries us is not the naming practice, but the university's concession to money. Naming a teaching building in Tsinghua University after a certain clothing brand poses questions about China's university management system and the basic spirit of its criteria. When a university's spirit is colored by money, it's hard to tell where the country's education system is heading.

Liu Yikun (Xi'an Evening News): Tsinghua University says the naming of the Jeanswest Building is common practice around the world. The question is why the university is being scorned so harshly?

As early as 1997, the then State Education Commission issued a document to forbid the naming of school buildings on campuses after donors. If there were special reasons, they should be reported to the relevant departments for approval. In the face of so many naming practices on today's campuses, the first question is, have they got approval?

Maybe this document is a bit outdated, and as China's top university, Tsinghua will never find it difficult to get such approval from the relevant department. But should it accept any commercial naming donations?

It seems there is such a trend—the Education Foundation website of Tsinghua University shows the names of 14 institutes, libraries and buildings on the campus are open for bidding and the total naming charges will amount to 750 million yuan ($115.4 million). It's all right to have one or two buildings named after celebrities or prestigious businesses, but never too many, because too many will damage the university's dignity and reputation.

Why are businesses paying for naming a university building after themselves? I think the answer is they want to take advantage of the university's reputation. Once a company is hit by this or that scandal, the university's reputation will also suffer. Dignity and reputation are almost all for a university, and so if anything negative occurs, the university will have more to lose than to win.

The public is really worried about an increasingly serious trend of money worship of universities. In past years, the commercial world has tried to approach and penetrate universities by various means. Universities must learn to protect themselves from the allure of "candy bullets." If they are manipulated by money, universities will no longer be what they are supposed to be.

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