【有文稿】大学宿舍秒变青年旅舍

Xiaohua: Recently, Dali University announces that it will turn some of its dorms into a Youth Hostel during the summer holiday. This triggered heated debate online. The university is located in picturesque Dali Town of Yunnan Province, and has already started receiving reservations for the upcoming summer break. 大理大学摇身一变成‘青旅’。该消息日前一经报道，受到了广泛关注。有网友对大量游客入住校园对校园安全保障提出了质疑。 So do you think it is appropriate? Heyang: I think this is a very interesting approach on using the idle resources that could be put into better use during summer vacation when students are not around. Why not just turn the dormitories to hostels and earn a little bit of extra revenue? I think this is what the university has in mind. Mark: This is a superb idea. I think it’s a fantastic idea. I mean it’s already done in other cities. If any of our listeners ever go to London, you’re going to be paying out maybe 1,500 or 2,000 Yuan per night for a hotel in London or stay in the dorm of the London school of Economics (LSE) for 40 quid a night. They’re already doing it. Xiaohua: Really? It’s an option already? Heyang: That is. I agree. My dormitory room was turned into a hotel during the summer vacation. Xiaohua: My main concern here is that are students on board? Heyang you don’t seem to be on board with it. You sound pretty unhappy about it. What do the students of Dali University students think? Heyang: Well, I think there is a difference. Because first of all, are the Dali University students being informed that there are going to be strangers staying in your dormitory during summer vacation? Where would you store all your stuff, and also how are the equipment going to be maintained? And, those questions need to be answered before implementing a plan like this. I think because these very practical, perceivable problems were solved beforehand in LSE, so it was a success. Mark: It’s not just the London School of Economics that does it. I stayed in this kind of accommodation in Edinburgh when I went to the Edinburgh Festival, much cheaper than staying in a hotel. Many people don’t know that you can do it. And also if you’re an alumnus, an old student, you can stay in your own university free, which is very convenient sometimes if you don’t want to spend any money or sometimes maybe you pay a little bit towards the cleaning costs. What you said is very important. What will happen to the student’s possessions, for example. I would imagine that they’re put in a locker, safely stored away for the whole summer. But secondly, to put it bluntly, it’s nothing to do with the students, and their opinion is irrelevant because during the summer they don’t live there. The deal with the university is that the students have the accommodation during term time. What the university does with their own accommodation and their own buildings at times outside term time is entirely up to the university. Heyang: So that’s the thing. I don’t know whether the Dali University has made the deal clear to people. By the sound of it, some students seem to have assumed that they still have the rights of usage of these rooms during vacation, then there is a clash of interest. So, it’s really important to establish clearly what this deal is about, and also make sure that safety and possession issues are being avoided. Mark: What they could do is, at the end of a course when someone’s left and the dorm will be empty for the whole summer because the new students won’t arrive until the following academic semester, then that will be a much easier situation to deal with. Xiaohua: Right. Also, Vivian here says that I think the hostel in college campus is a smart way to make money, but the questions is who gets the money. Will it be used to improve school facilities, or go to a few people’s own pockets? Also, how to make sure the safety of the travellers and those students who choose to stay at school? I think that’s a good question. People are concerned about the safety of, say, students, but safety of travellers is also important too. Mark: The University is responsible for the safety of students, so it equally will be responsible for the safety of other visitors during the summer. Xiaohua: And, make sure that nobody steals anybody else’s property if they live in the same space. Mark: As in, they will make a deposit, and the inventory will be checked I assume when they arrive and when they leave.