Chinese University of Hong Kong head Rocky Tuan out of sight, but at the centre of storm over council reforms
- Lawmakers press ahead with bill to shake up CUHK council, disregarding changes endorsed by university
- Some say it is time for controversial vice-chancellor to go, but lawmakers deny targeting him personally
No stranger to controversy, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) vice-chancellor Rocky Tuan Sung-chi is once again the target of criticism as lawmakers move to overhaul the institution’s governing council.
The 72-year-old professor’s repeated refusal to appear before a Legislative Council committee this month and face questioning over issues of governance have sparked calls for him to go. He said he was ill.
Events unfolded swiftly last year, after the university council decided that April to reappoint Tuan for a new three-year term ending in 2026. That triggered immediate criticism and a surprise move to reform the council.
Lawmakers Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, Edward Lau Kwok-fan and Bill Tang Ka-piu, all council members themselves, initiated a private members’ bill to slash its membership from 55 to 34 while increasing the number of outside representatives, including government appointees.
They wanted the ratio of external members to internal ones raised to 2:1 from the current roughly even mix, and proposed that no fewer than three quarters of council members would be needed to approve the appointment of the vice-chancellor, instead of the current simple majority.
The CUHK council responded last December by setting up a task force, which decided in April that reform plans left dormant since 2016 were still fit to go. It recommended trimming the council size, including reviewing whether the current number of three lawmakers appointed to the advisory body could be reduced.