A former University of Hong Kong student who submitted a blank sheet of paper as his PhD thesis in protest at HKU's alleged failure to find him a suitable supervisor is now fighting to stay in Hong Kong.
Architecture graduate Francis Frick, 34, who enrolled at HKU in 1996 after gaining a Master's degree in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, calls the thesis a sheet of 'undivided quantum wholeness''.
The university doesn't see it that way. It says he failed to submit a thesis conforming to its regulations within the stated time limit, and his registration lapsed on December 14 last year.
New York-born Mr Frick, who is trained in quantum arcology, a new-age blend of ecology and architecture, now faces having to leave when his tourist visa expires. He claims HKU brought him to Hong Kong 'under false pretences'' after failing to establish his academic background, that the supervisor it appointed, Professor Sivaguru Ganesan, worked in the field of construction economics and didn't understand his approach and that it failed to find someone more suitable despite repeated requests.
The university counters that Mr Frick's PhD proposal 'made no mention of a quantum approach'', that the supervisor was qualified to oversee his work and that Mr Frick signed a number of reports confirming there were 'no problems'' with the supervisor. It also claims that he failed to submit work it considered as evidence of progress toward a PhD.
Mr Frick says the period when he worked with his supervisor was spent trying to persuade him of the validity of his approach through 'discreet tutorials''. He says he could not submit work in the form demanded by the university because it was alien to his Berkeley training and that he decided to withdraw his request for a change of supervisor when he learnt Professor Ganesan may have been in the running for the post of faculty dean.
