'Academic freedom is under threat': 300 Hong Kong academics petition over delay in HKU's pro-democracy appointment
About 300 academics have joined forces against a delay in the appointment of a key managerial post at the University of Hong Kong, saying they feel compelled to voice out because the city’s “academic freedom is under unprecedented threat”.
Nearly 300 academics have joined forces to voice opposition to the delay in appointing a pro-democracy scholar to a key managerial post at the University of Hong Kong, saying they feel compelled to speak up because the city's "academic freedom is under unprecedented threat".
A petition signed by the academics and led by University of Science and Technology political scientist Dixon Sing Ming says signatories share the concerns of HKU teachers and students that the government is "interfering" in university affairs. It said they feared similar conflicts may beset their own institutions should they stay silent.
The joint petition, which urges HKU's governing council to decide on the appointment, was made public yesterday on the eve of a monthly meeting of the body. As of yesterday, 297 academics had signed, Sing said.
"The storm at HKU is a typical example showing the freedom and independence of our tertiary institutions are under unprecedented threat," it reads.
The council has twice postponed the appointment of a pro-vice-chancellor - for which former HKU law dean Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun is said to have been recommended. Council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung has said a supervisory provost set to be hired should have a say in the candidacy, so the appointment should be delayed until he or she is on board.
Some council members and students have claimed Beijing and the Hong Kong government do not want the job to go to Chan because of his ties to Occupy Central co-founder and HKU legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting.
The council's insistence on deferring the post prompted a group of students to storm its meeting room at the Pok Fu Lam campus last month. Today's meeting will be held 3km away from the main campus, with added security measures.
Professional Teachers' Union president Fung Wai-wah, a petition signatory, said the row showed the need to change university governance structures.
"Many council members appointed by Chief Executive [Leung Chun-ying] are from the pro-establishment camp, and they occupy up to 80 per cent of the seats on the institutions' governing bodies," Fung said.
The 22-member HKU council includes 12 outsiders who are neither students nor employees of the university, six of whom are appointed by Leung.
The petition is at least the third major drive by interested parties to voice their opinions on the row since it escalated in June. Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen collected at least 4,000 signatures from alumni urging the council to stop delaying, while at least 103 alumni - including pro-establishment lawmakers - put their names to a letter criticising the students for disrupting the council meeting.
A phone survey by pro-Beijing pollsters found 40 per cent of people aged between 18 and 45 agreed with the storming of the meeting, while 52.3 per cent disagreed. About 53 per cent said the issue should be left to the council to handle. The survey was conducted from August 11 to 15 by the Hong Kong Research Association and United Youth Association.
