Fourth leak from University of Hong Kong council meetings shows president supported liberal scholar's bid for post
Recording of council meeting reveals Peter Mathieson stood by liberal scholar's application
The president of the University of Hong Kong showed support for Johannes Chan Man-mun shortly before the institution's governing body blocked him from taking up a key managerial post, a new recording of a key closed-door meeting in September leaked on Wednesday night revealed.
The voice recording - uploaded to Taiwanese online forum PTT - had HKU president Peter Mathieson standing by Chan. He was also heard saying Lo Chung-mau, who had opposed Chan's appointment as a pro-vice-chancellor, was taking things "very personally".
Lo, who was present at the meeting, was then heard complaining that Chan showed no sympathy after Lo was pushed to the floor during a previous council meeting chaotically stormed by students and other protesters.
But Mathieson rebutted him: "There's no requirement in the job description for the candidate to express sympathy otherwise on anybody who is injured. I think you are putting post-event facts into this particular context."
The British scholar also added: "Whilst none of the outcomes are attractive, to my mind, there will be less damage done for the university by the acceptance of the nomination."
Chan, a liberal scholar and former law dean of HKU, was rejected in September in a 12-8 vote by the council, which is dominated by pro-government figures, sparking fears among alumni and academics over academic freedom and university autonomy.
"The candidate would really say, look at your CV, your CV is not as good as mine. How can you turn down an application if you don't have that kind of quality?" Lo was reported as saying.
Mathieson, however, said the search committee which he chaired considered Chan academically suitable.
"Academic credentials were considered, and were considered suitable," he said. "I am not going to go back from the judgment made by the search committee," he said.