Thousands of students at Liaoning university rage against dormitory 'evictions'

Thousands of students at a Liaoning university are up in arms against the school’s plan to allegedly force them out of their dormitories to make way for a larger number of entrants.

The mostly female students have accused Bohai University of “arbitrarily” ordering them to relocate far from their campus just off the Bohai Sea and live in poor accommodations they described as “shabby, damp” and crams eight students to a room.

They vented their fury on a Weibo page titled “10,000 Bohai University students relocating dormitories”, which has 30,000 member bloggers, most of them students.

Some blamed the “sudden” arrangement on the university’s acceptance of far more new students than it could accommodate. “Why does the school expand its enrolment even though it knows there isn’t room for it?” one student said.

Public information from Bohai University shows 5,576 first-year students are enroled this fall – 576 more than last year.

The university did not respond to phone calls today. But in an earlier statement on Sunday, the school confirmed it decided on the relocation plans after “careful consideration”.

Far from the grim descriptions by students, the university said the new dormitories were “four-student rooms with a balcony and lake view”.