More than 1,000 to vote at University of Hong Kong alumni meeting over pro-vice-chancellor delay
University of Hong Kong graduates and lecturers will vote on resolutions relating to a delay in appointing a new pro-vice-chancellor
More than 1,000 alumni and lecturers from the University of Hong Kong are expected to turn up at a special meeting today to vote on issues relating to delays in appointing a new pro-vice-chancellor and allegations of political interference in the process.
The HKU Convocation - a statutory body comprising 162,000 graduates and lecturers - is a formal platform for concerned participants to express their views.
The voting results, although not binding, will put great pressure on the university's governing council.
Tuesday's meeting will take place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, which can accommodate 1,600 people. All HKU graduates and lecturers can vote, either in person or by proxy.
"Audit firm BDO has been hired to conduct an independent counting of votes," an HKU spokeswoman said yesterday. "Every proxy vote is being checked and there is random sampling to verify whether the vote is genuine."
The meeting was convened after an alumni concern group led by education-sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen submitted enough signatures to trigger a session.
The group is worried that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's administration tried to block the appointment of Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, a liberal scholar close to an Occupy Central founder, to a pro-vice-chancellor position.
The meeting will discuss several motions tabled by Ip's group. One resolution urges the council to confirm Chan's appointment within 30 days in accordance with procedures.
The others call for the chief executive to no longer serve as the university's chancellor and chief officer, and for the post of council chairman to be filled by a candidate deemed "acceptable" to staff and students.
An opposing alumni group, led by Lawrence Pang Wang-kee, has tabled a separate motion asking for support for an earlier statement by 10 HKU deans, which called for institutional autonomy, but also criticised student protesters who stormed a council meeting in July.
Meanwhile, former Bar Association chairman Paul Shieh Wing-tai criticised the council's decision to delay Chan's appointment, saying he was upset about recent attacks targeting the HKU law faculty and Chan, its former dean.
Shieh told new students that the council had failed to give substantive reasons for twice voting to defer discussion on the appointment of a new pro-vice-chancellor. The council said only that the supervisory post of provost should be filled first before Chan's post was discussed.
"The snipers have chosen to snipe. It makes one wonder what they are trying to achieve, and why they are willing to wound but are afraid to strike," Shieh said.