Bad grade on a midterm? Drama in the dorm? Trouble getting tenure? What if there was a place on campus where students and faculty were actually encouraged to act out their aggressions to relieve stress? This is what administrators of Southwest Jiaotong University in China had in mind when they created a new “anger management” room.

According to The China Daily, the room was fashioned in an attempt to decrease depression and suicide among stressed-out students. Students are encouraged to use the room to let out their frustration in a controlled environment. The walls of the room are lined with sandbags that can be etched with the faces of generic enemy figures. Campus health professionals are also on hand to help students cope with their anger.

The school “want[ed] to help students let out their intense animosity or hostility without storing up such hatred,” Ning Weiwei, who is credited with designing the anger management room, told The China Daily. Ning is a psychology professor at Southwest Jiaotong University.

Emotional and academic stresses are just as familiar to Stanford students as they are to students at Southwest Jiatong University, which is located in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. But most Stanford students seem to think that such an institutionalized outlet for aggression is a bad idea.

“It might intimidate people, or it might only intensify depression,” says Carol Cao, a junior at Stanford. “It doesn’t seem like the ideal answer. Counseling or encouraging people to talk to friends might be more productive.”

Although the anger management room in China was designed with students in mind, it has proved popular among university faculty as well. However, Stanford’s Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Susie Brubaker-Cole says she disagrees with the concept of such a room.

“The university experience should be one where students can take what they have learned and apply it in the situations they encounter outside of the ‘ivory tower,’” she explains. “In the outside world, students are not going to encounter rooms where they can go let out anger on punching bags. I also think we should hold higher standards for people like faculty members than that.”

Despite the academic and emotional stresses that many Stanford students encounter, the laid-back, peaceful atmosphere on the Farm seems to clash with the idea of a venue for aggression.

The China Daily states that creating an environment where the release of aggression is specifically encouraged also raises questions about human psychology. It is too early to determine whether visiting the anger management room fosters positive emotional results. Some are also concerned that a special outlet for anger could adversely affect mental health.

Experts like Chen Xin, a psychologist with the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have pointed out that the anger management room is only a temporary solution to deep-rooted problems among young people.

“China’s elite education system and rapid economic development have misled young students,” Xin told The China Daily. These have undermined the traditional values of tolerance and patience that are espoused by Chinese philosophy.

One question that remains is whether the anger management room concept can be spread to other venues. Some supporters have suggested taking the concept a step further, implementing such rooms in the workplace.

Though the Southwest Jiaotong University faculty has good intentions, some people at Stanford say they prefer more traditional forms of counseling rather than taking it to the mat when it comes to reducing depression and suicide rates.

“In the case of suicide, there should just be more psychological counseling services or something,” says Stanford freshman Nabill Idrisi. “Letting out physical anger to deal with depression would not fix the problem. Facilities like Vaden Health Center and peer counseling are available for students here, so I think Stanford can do without an anger management room.”