A RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT by the Sun Yat-sen University of its Students' Union "cadres" aroused criticism nationwide because of its overly bureaucratic style. Ccdi.gov.cn comments:

According to the announcement, the Students' Union of Sun Yat-sen University has three levels of student officials, whose total number exceeds 200. More importantly, many of the student officials are labeled "department level" or "vice-department level", something that reminds people of government officials.

The announcement has not surprisingly been widely ridiculed.

The bad habit of using the titles of government officials, which still seems to be popular among universities and colleges, must be halted because Students' Union members should serve students, instead of pretending to be officials.

If any Students' Union member behaves like an official, that means he or she is abusing their position and should be excluded from the organization. Further, those with such bureaucratic mentalities will suffer in the future when they get jobs in companies because they cannot treat each other as equals.

The university's administrators have already apologized for misusing the titles. It is good that they have recognized their own mistake. We hope the university leaders can get rid of the bureaucratic style.

Of course, that's not the job of the university alone. The university, the Youth League, as well as the education authorities should all properly guide the youths in college. After all, what the students have done in their unions are like a mirror in which society sees itself. Youths are the future of the society and will help propel reform forward.