University leader fielding thousands of requests from students

A barrage of over 20,000 short messages have bombarded a college president's personal cellphone in the last two school years since he disclosed his phone number publicly to deal with student suggestions.

Kong Jianyi, president of Wuhan Technology and Business University, revealed the figure — which equates to about 30 per day — during a graduation ceremony speech on Friday in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Kong made his phone number public during his address to the opening ceremony for the new semester in September 2021 and has since been receiving SMS messages. They contain complaints, requests and suggestions of all sorts. Kong said that he promised to personally reply to all the messages and turned reasonable suggestions into reality.

For instance, one freshman asked him how to get up early for morning jogs. Kong replied that he had since gone jogging every morning whenever he was on campus to set a good example for the students.

In another suggestion, one student hoped the library's opening hours could be extended and a special study room dedicated to better prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam. Kong praised the student's diligence and arranged for the room.

Some messages have been more tongue-in-cheek. One student wrote: "Mr. President, some other university presidents are giving students free roasted chicken, I want some, too."

The university later gave away 18,000 chicken drumstick rice set meals and a mealbox of crayfish to its faculty and students to celebrate its 20th anniversary, which draw laughter and garnered thumbs-ups from students.

"It's really tiring to reply to all these messages by myself, but it's worth it because the communication is heartfelt and I have learned about the university's drawbacks, allowing me to improve the campus," Kong said during his speech.

It's not unusual for university presidents to share contact details, as almost every senior leader has a public email address, but disclosing a personal cellphone number is uncommon.

"In addition, whether the president is able to read and act on the students' emails on time is questionable, so setting up an instant and interactive communication channel is quite special," China Youth Daily wrote in a commentary piece.

liangshuang@chinadaily.com.cn