"Openess" & Accessibility

written on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:01am

This morning, as I was sending some documents to the School of Law, housed in the Government Building, I noticed a group of tourists, busy taking pictures of the beauty of the building's interiors. Government Building is a heritage building, apparently the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere. The School of Law is there, so are some government departments, though some of the judges and the members NZ's judiciary have moved to the new High Court next door ( grand opening of the High Court was by HRH Prince William earlier this year :)) ).

The Beehive, NZ's parliament is just opposite Government Building. But, I don't see any sentry post, or guards at all. The building is under electronic surveillance, of course, as members of the public are allowed into government buildings. Victoria University's buildings and facilities are open to the public. Members of the public are allowed to go in and use the University Libraries, except for borrowing materials. Most of the public universities I went to back home, have sentry posts, where you have to leave certain kind of IDs before you can set a foot into the University grounds. When can an ordinary member of the public be able to use the facilities developed from tax payers' money, such as a public university, without feeling as if you are under heavy observation?