BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Peking University officials have sparked controversy by removing public notice boards from the center of the university campus that were formerly used by students to get various informations and express opinions.

The notice boards in the middle of a triangular-shaped lawn known as Sanjiaodi were removed as part of the university's clean-up campaign in preparation for its 110th anniversary and some of the "Good Luck Beijing" sports events due to be held at the university prior to the 2008 Olympic Games, a spokesman from Peking University told Xinhua.

An on-campus security guard confirmed that the boards were demolished on Sunday night.

"These notice boards have no longer served as places for the exchange of thoughts and ideas since the late 1990s, and were instead filled with commercial advertisements for apartments for rent and training courses," said the spokesman.

"More and more students are also using the Internet, instead of the boards, to spread information and opinions, so there is no need to keep them," he said.

However, many users of the university's Internet forum have spoken out against the removal of the boards, according to a current Peking University student.

Some said the boards were a place where students were free to express their opinions and provide students with a sense of identity, so students should have their say in deciding whether to remove them or not.

Another student said that he used the boards to look for jobs to finance his studies and was annoyed the boards were now gone.

A Southern Metropolis Daily report said the university had demolished the boards in order to earn good marks in the upcoming inspection by the Ministry of Education later this month.

In the 1980s and 1990s, students published their poems, essays and other thoughts on a wide range of social issues on the notice boards and reading the posters at Sanjiaodi became part of daily life.

"The boards have been there for decades so how could they be removed in such a hurry?" said a man surnamed Wu who graduated from Peking University last year.

"It is necessary for the university authorities to find ways to improve the administration of the place, but you can't throw the baby out with the bath water," he added.

Some Internet users voiced their support for the removal, saying the notice boards were just using the notice boards to post commercial advertisements and the critics were too fussy.