City University says donations affected by ongoing Hong Kong protests, with sponsors backing out of past commitments
- Governing council member says donors could be dissatisfied with students’ participation in protests, warning that loss of income could affect operations.
- Financial records of other tertiary institutions also show drop in sponsorship
A Hong Kong university has said donations have recently been “inevitably affected” amid the ongoing anti-government protests that have often involved tertiary students, with some donors backing out of previous commitments.
City University, which saw a HK$100 million (US$12.9 million) year-on-year drop in donations according to figures from the last financial year, also warned that there would be a spillover effect on the city’s development in the long run from schools’ loss of income.
Among the more than 6,000 arrests police have made since protests first erupted last June, nearly 40 per cent were students, with some 700 from universities.
Polytechnic University, the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and CityU were schools with the most students arrested.
In November, protesters have also occupied universities, blocked nearby roads and vandalised buildings, with police saying radicals had turned campuses into petrol bomb factories.
Some of the most intense clashes occurred at PolyU and CUHK, wrecking swathes of their premises.
