Baptist University plans action to fight flats by Kowloon Tong campus
Class boycotts threatened after government adds site near campus to land-for-sale list
Alumni and students of Baptist University have threatened action to oppose the government's plan to sell a site next to its campus, to build flats.
They are considering boycotting classes and seeking a judicial review into the government's conduct. Yesterday, about 100 students and lecturers protested, displaying placards with slogans reading, "oppose the government changing the land use" and "support the long-term development of Baptist University".
University president Professor Albert Chan Sun-chi yesterday criticised the government for adding the former Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education site to its list of land for sale, before a public consultation over the future of the site had finished.
"I am scared. If our government works in this way, it is difficult for us to trust [it] any more in the future," Chan said.
I am scared. If our government works in this way, it is difficult for us to trust it any more in the future
The professor, who should have been in Beijing yesterday for a meeting of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, postponed his trip to respond to the government's move.
The site on Renfrew Road, Kowloon Tong, vacant since 2010, is the subject of a two-month public consultation launched by the Town Planning Board to decide whether it should be saved for education or changed to residential use.