My Take | Message to Hong Kong’s university chiefs: grow a spine
- Academic heads need to take a stand against bullying by student radicals and learn from college lecturer Chan Wai-keung, who insists on speaking his mind despite threats and harassment
Our university heads think there is safety in numbers. That may be why student radicals are going after them individually.
Well, professor, who has been trying to burn down Hong Kong? Answer: not the police.
I am hoping other university chiefs will show more backbone. The Red Guards are now turning their attention to the University of Hong Kong. More than 2,600 students, alumni and staff have signed a petition demanding that HKU vice chancellor Zhang Xiang “condemn police brutality” and hold a dialogue with them. I am sure the professor would be happy to meet them, even if there had been no civil unrest. But those activists are grandstanding.
It is an elementary principle of free speech: you are free to criticise whoever you want, but you can’t force others to do it. Students and their supporters are free to protest against the police. But what makes them think they can force other people, including public figures, to condemn the police and use them for their own protests and political goals?
Our university chiefs have responsibility to the whole community, not just their students, especially not the radical ones. They should learn from the example of Chan Wai-keung.