2,000 HKU students and staff joined silent march to protest liberal scholar’s rejection from key post
About 2,000 silently protested fears of autonomy lost at the University of Hong kong, but some junior employees allegedly give it a wide berth
The turnout was estimated at a sizeable 2,000 - and yet some junior employees of the University of Hong Kong were absent during yesterday's silent march of staff members and students to defend institutional autonomy.
Fears that dabbling in politics might hamper promotional prospects kept lower-ranked employees away, according to senior academics who took part.
Former arts dean Professor Douglas Kerr said he knew junior colleagues were worried about their prospects for promotion and tenure.
"I don't think the university is yet in a terror culture," Kerr said. "But it begins with people being uncertain about what level of academic and intellectual independence they can exercise."
LATEST UPDATE: lawyers, nurses, accountants, IT workers to protest in support of HKU
All the faculties were represented as their professors, wearing either black clothes or academic gowns, marched from the new Centennial Campus to Sun Yat-sen Place on the main campus in Pok Fu Lam at lunch hour.