Protest talks thrust popular scholar Joseph Sung into political limelight
Professor Joseph Sung, Chinese University's head, found himself in the middle of talks to breach impasse between government and protesters
While they are never entirely free from politics, few would have faced the level of politicisation that surrounds Professor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu.
Ever since Sung took the helm as vice chancellor of Chinese University four years ago, the gastroenterologist has more often made headlines for his role in political issues.
Most recently, media reports claimed he had been a discreet middleman liaising with student protesters to set up a meeting with officials aimed at breaking the deadlock over Beijing's controversial ruling on the city's political reforms.
A televised meeting on October 21 ended with no resolution, but it was widely hailed as a good starting point for further talks.
Sung, declining to discuss his middleman role, praised the students' performance at the meeting as "well-prepared and sophisticated" and said the government had also shown sincerity.
The lingering Occupy protests began with a moderate week-long class boycott in late September organised by the Federation of Students.
The class boycott escalated on September 26 when about 200 striking students broke into a fenced-off forecourt outside government headquarters in Admiralty that had once been a public protest zone. Clashes between police and protesters erupted.
Catalysed by the police use of tear gas against protesters on September 28, the demonstrations rapidly developed into mass occupation protests in Central, Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, and Tsim Sha Tsui.
On October 2, he and University of Hong Kong vice chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson, even went to Admiralty to visit student protesters and urged restraint. They won public acclaim for helping ease tensions.
Dr Ma Ngok, an associate professor of political science at Chinese University, said the ability of a university head to cope with politicised issues had become more important.
"It is more demanding nowadays to be a university head. In addition to academic achievements, society expects more from the university heads," said Ma.
Professor Andrew Chan Chi-fai, head of Chinese University's Shaw College, agreed, adding: "It has got nothing to do with the encroachment of politics on campus. Society has changed. As the head of a university, you have to face it and deal with it."
Sung's political skills were put to the test soon after he became the university head in 2010. Student leaders installed a 6.4 metre bronze Goddess of Democracy statue on campus to mark the 21st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The move was in defiance of the outgoing vice chancellor, economist Dr Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, who objected to receiving the sculpture. As vice chancellor-designate, Sung described the stance of university authorities as "immature".The statue remains in place outside the University MTR station.
To fellow scholars in the university, Sung, 55, is an unconventional head who is critical of the idea, popular with some in higher education, that a university should be run like a business.
He says what matters the most in education is students. "Amidst fixations on ranking, awards, and publications, what is the place of our students?" Sung, then the head of Shaw College, was quoted as saying in a 2008 issue of the university newsletter.
It seems only natural that he is well-liked by students and fellow university colleagues.
Earlier this year he was reappointed as vice chancellor for another three years from July next year.
Sung finished his medical degree course in 1983 at HKU and obtained a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of Calgary, Canada, and a medical doctorate from Chinese University in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
He joined the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin in 1985 as medical officer and later became a lecturer at Chinese University's department of medicine in 1992.
He became head of Shaw College, one of the university's four constituent colleges, in 2008 before becoming vice chancellor.
In the medical arena, he is a world leader in gastroenterological research.
He led a group of experts from 15 Asia-Pacific countries to launch colorectal cancer screening research in 2004, and has laid down clear guidelines and promoted colorectal screenings.
No article on Sung would be complete without mentioning his role in the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic that claimed 299 lives in Hong Kong in 2003.
Sung was among the frontline medical staff members who helped lead the territory's fight against the deadly viral outbreak that no doctors anywhere in the world were prepared for.
His contributions made him a household name.
In his inaugural address as the head of Shaw College in 2008, he summed up what he had learned during the Sars epidemic.
He said: "No strategy is always right. No single person is indispensable. No hero is unbeatable. No success is everlasting. Only through learning from our past and passing it onto the next generation can we perpetuate our history."
Words of wisdom, perhaps, for the student protest leaders to consider as they figure out their next move.
Joseph Sung
55
married, with two daughters
:
1983: University of Hong Kong, bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery
1992: University of Calgary, PhD in biomedical sciences
1997: Chinese University, medical doctorate
2007-present: member of Medical Council of Hong Kong
2007-present: member of research council under the Food and Health Bureau
2004: Silver Bauhinia Star
2011: academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering
2012: Justice of the Peace
