Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s Lingnan University distances itself from ‘politicised’ student union after mass email refers to ‘Wuhan pneumonia’
- The publicly funded school says it will suspend the group’s ability to send bulk emails and reserves ‘the right to take further actions’
- In a statement, the union argues the term is ‘not intended to stigmatise’ and is meant for ‘easy understanding for many Hongkongers’
Lingnan University, which called the phrase “very inappropriate” and expressed regret over the union’s refusal to heed management’s request to change it, said it would suspend the student group’s ability to send bulk emails and “reserve the right to take further actions”.
In a statement to students and staff sent late on Tuesday, the liberal arts school in Tuen Mun said the move came after “some members of the student union” complained about the use of the term, which appeared both in the email and the online survey it promoted.
“The university advised the [student union] that their ... term for Covid-19 has clearly offended some members of the university, and urged them to revise the term and use the official name of Covid-19,” the statement read.
“The university regrets that the [union] refused to accept this request.”
