People feed stray cats in Jing'an Park. Photo: Shi Liu/GT

After verification from multiple sources on Saturday, it was confirmed that the student surnamed Guo who abused cats at the Yao Lake campus of Jiangxi Normal University, in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi Province, was expelled from the university for violating school rules and regulations, according to CCTV News.

At the same time, a school investigation found that the student was also engaged in spreading pornographic content and videos.

The latest decision of the university came after another postgraduate student candidate for Lanzhou University's School of Nuclear Science and Technology who had attracted significant social attention for allegedly abusing cats was not included in the list of candidates for admission.

On March 29, a netizen posted a video claiming that a male student at the campus had been abusing cats in the dormitory over an extended period. In the video, the male student punched and kicked the cat, and ruthlessly beat it with a hanger, causing the cat to cry out in pain when it was knocked against the door.

On March 30, the Student Affairs Office of Jiangxi Normal University announced that the school attached great importance to the matter, and immediately set up an investigation team to conduct a thorough investigation based on the facts and in accordance with the law and regulations.

Following the relevant provisions of the Jiangxi Normal University Student Disciplinary Management Measures, the school's executive council decided to expel Guo on Friday.

The document reads that "according to the decision of the office meeting of the school, Guo, who kept a pet cat in the dormitory and engaged in multiple acts of animal abuse, which led to a major negative public opinion on the internet, causing a particularly bad impact on the school. At the same time, Guo also engaged in spreading obscene videos, skipping 12 classes, and other violations of school rules and regulations. According to the relevant provisions of the disciplinary measures, Guo has been expelled from the school."

Recently, similar cases of animal abuse, such as the "cat abuse candidate" were rejected twice in the postgraduate entrance examination, have attracted widespread attention.

On April 9, Lanzhou University's School of Nuclear Science and Technology officially announced the 2024 list of candidates for master's degree transfer admissions on its official website. After checking the list, Xu, a candidate who had attracted significant social attention for allegedly abusing cats, discovered out that he had not been included in the list of candidates for admission.

According to media reports, after finishing his undergraduate studies, Xu applied for admission to the School of Physics at Nanjing University for a master's degree, but was not admitted.

Subsequently, he applied for a transfer to Lanzhou University. During this period, netizens reported that the candidate had allegedly abused and killed cats in the school dormitory and uploaded videos of the acts online.

Regarding the merits of the candidate being rejected, there are two different opinions on social media platforms, some believe that schools are places for nurturing and shaping individuals, and since the candidate did not break the law, the school has no reason to reject him.

Others believe that the postgraduate entrance examination is a mutual selection process, and the school has the right to choose whether to admit the candidate, with moral and ethical considerations being an important aspect of evaluating and selecting talents.

Global Times