‘Cultural Revolution style’ attacks on HKU threaten academic freedom: former law dean
Former law faculty dean attacked by pro-Beijing media hints at application for management post
Continuing attacks by the pro-Beijing media against a former University of Hong Kong law dean are an attempt to block him from taking up a key managerial position in the university, the scholar wrote in the Chinese press yesterday.
It is the first time that Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun has addressed reports that he was recommended for the newlycreated pro-vice chancellor position in charge of academic staffing and resources. It is understood that a search committee recommended Chan in December.
Chan also asked if the "upper echelon of government" cooperated with pro-communist newspapers by prematurely releasing confidential reports upon which their stories were based.
"Leftist newspapers have launched ferocious attacks against the university's law faculty and myself," Chan wrote in Ming Pao.
"One of the reasons is the rumour that I may become the university's pro-vice chancellor."
Chan, who stepped down as dean last year, stresses that university appointments are purely internal matters. "Leftist newspapers resort to this kind of denunciation to put pressure on the university, which amounts to a serious intervention in the autonomy of the institution."
Chan is a member of Hong Kong 2020, a pro-democracy group led by former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang , who is a frequent target of attack in pro-Beijing papers.