Hong Kong students are there to learn not administer
Under the guise of defending academic freedom and autonomy, a small minority – and a few of their anti-government teachers – are advancing their own political agenda
Concerns about academic freedom and university autonomy are again in the news. This is because two of Hong Kong’s oldest universities will have new vice chancellors. These days, virtually any senior appointment at a public university can cause a furore for the sole reason that a small but vocal group of radical localist students will always make a fuss, regardless of the merit of the appointment.
Well, both HKU and Chinese University allowed student representatives to attend such meetings and that didn’t stop them from complaining about the appointments. There is a simple reason: no amount of consultation will satisfy such students short of letting them appoint their own professors. But for that, we will need a 1960s-style cultural revolution.
I am sure all three academics will do fine. They are certainly no threat to academic freedom and institutional autonomy. So why do such concerns keep coming up?
Under the guise of defending academic freedom and autonomy, this small student minority – and a few of their anti-government teachers – are advancing their own political agenda. What’s worse is that opposition politicians, fearing they might alienate young people, not only fail to speak out but offer every encouragement and inducement to take on universities.
Such politicalisation has spread to secondary schools. That is most unforgivable.