HKU students rally to call for end to delay in appointment of liberal scholar to key position
Public pressure was mounting on the University of Hong Kong’s governors today as dozens of students and alumni rallied outside an HKU council meeting, urging its members to process the appointment of a liberal scholar to a key managerial post.
Public pressure was mounting on the University of Hong Kong’s governors today as dozens of students and alumni rallied outside an HKU council meeting, urging its members to process the appointment of a liberal scholar to a key managerial post.
About 50 students, all dressed in black, arrived at the venue of the meeting an hour before the meeting started, holding placards that read “Safeguard HKU’s Autonomy”.
They shouted slogans at council members when they walked into the meeting room and chaos broke out briefly when the chief executive-appointed member, Executive Councillor Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung appeared.
Students rushed up to surround Li and expressed their demands that HKU stop delaying the appointment of former law dean Johannes Chan Man-mun to the position of pro-vice-chancellor.
“We surrounded him because he led a group of other members to suggest the delay of [Chan’s] appointment in the last meeting,” said Billy Fung Jing-en, student union president and one of the two student representatives in the 22-member council.
“We cannot accept the continuous delay of the appointment. If most students want to storm the meeting or occupy the venue, I can accept this. It all depends on if the council will answer to our demands.”