University of Hong Kong infighting escalates as council, head take aim at each other
- HKU council says president was not kept in dark about several interim appointments; he then issues statement to ‘set record straight’
Infighting among the leadership at Hong Kong’s oldest university has escalated, with the governing council issuing an open letter dismissing claims by the president that he was kept in the dark about a recent reshuffle of senior management, prompting a late-night response from him.
The open letter, sent to all University of Hong Kong (HKU) staff, students and alumni on Monday afternoon, emphasised that it was legal for the council to appoint members of the top management team.
But HKU president and vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang hit back late on Monday.
“Today, the university council issued an open letter, despite me and many of the council members objecting to it. It [the letter] involves untrue content and unfair criticisms. I am thus forced to respond to set the record straight,” he said.
Zhang said the council’s claims that he knew about the reshuffle were completely untrue, as the agenda for the meeting in question did not mention any appointments of vice-presidents.
The Post exclusively reported earlier on Monday that the city’s leader had stepped in to help end the infighting by meeting Zhang and council chairwoman Priscilla Wong Pui-sze separately “more than once” in the past few weeks.