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My Take | Hong Kong students are there to learn not administer

Under the guise of defending academic freedom and autonomy, a small minority – and a few of their anti-government teachers – are advancing their own political agenda

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More than 1,000 students, alumni and teachers joined a protest on October 9, 2015 at the University of Hong Kong as anger mounts over fears of Beijing’s political interference in the city's education system. Photo: AFP
Alex Loin Toronto

Concerns about academic freedom and university autonomy are again in the news. This is because two of Hong Kong’s oldest universities will have new vice chancellors. These days, virtually any senior appointment at a public university can cause a furore for the sole reason that a small but vocal group of radical localist students will always make a fuss, regardless of the merit of the appointment.

Professor Rocky Tuan Sung-chi, a top biomedical researcher, will head Chinese University, while Professor Zhang Xiang, a specialist in mechanical engineering, will take up the top post at the University of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Lingnan University is expected to renew the contract of Professor Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon.
Predictably, student union leaders have protested all three appointments. The common complaint is that they were not consulted, or at least not adequately so. It has always puzzled me why such students think they should be consulted when they are there to study at taxpayers’ expense, not to help administer the school.
Posters showing
Posters showing
Universities may teach about democracy, but they are not a democracy, and students are not voters. Even so, Lingnan University student leaders are upset because they were barred from attending meetings on the reappointment of Cheng.

Well, both HKU and Chinese University allowed student representatives to attend such meetings and that didn’t stop them from complaining about the appointments. There is a simple reason: no amount of consultation will satisfy such students short of letting them appoint their own professors. But for that, we will need a 1960s-style cultural revolution.

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