Where should universities draw the line on rights and freedoms?
Surya Deva says the umbrella movement raises important questions about human rights and freedoms on HK campuses, and is a reminder that restrictions should not be imposed lightly
The ongoing umbrella movement has triggered a volcano of creative imagination in Hong Kong, with new ideas, governance paradigms and legal principles being tested almost every day.
Baptist University president Albert Chan Sun-chi recently refused to present degree certificates to graduates carrying yellow umbrellas on to the stage as they showed disrespect for the solemnity of the occasion. To reciprocate, a few graduates declined to accept certificates from him.
It has also been reported that students at City University have been told verbally not to hang a "Democracy: Now or Never" banner at the entrance of the university library. Otherwise, they risk disciplinary action. Then there was the controversy surrounding alleged civil rights abuses during the visit of Li Keqiang , then a Chinese vice-premier, to the University of Hong Kong campus in August 2011.
All these scenarios raise important questions about human rights within the campuses of Hong Kong's publicly-funded universities and the limits universities can place on the exercise of such rights.
It goes without saying that the Hong Kong government has an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights under the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights Ordinance. These three-fold duties apply equally to public universities. So, the duty is not merely negative in nature: universities are expected to take a number of positive steps to ensure the human rights of all their stakeholders are adequately safeguarded on campus.
Of all the human rights, the one that stands out in the context of educational institutions is freedom of speech and expression. Universities are where students, teachers and others should be able to discuss, debate and disagree on any issue without fear. Innovation and creativity mushroom in a process of open engagement, rather than when debates take place within set contours.
Graduation ceremonies are an important facet of students' life at university. And while they are solemn occasions, they are also full of symbolism, reflected, for example, in the academic dress worn by graduates. If universities mandate graduating students to carry these symbols on to the stage, why not a small yellow umbrella as a symbol of the pursuit of the constitutional goal of universal suffrage?