New | Surrounded: University of Hong Kong students besiege governing council meeting, demand talks with Arthur Li
About 200 student protesters storm HKU Council session at Sassoon Road campus in Pok Fu Lam, protesting about governance structure. A ring of students blocking all exits leads to an hours-long standoff before Arthur Li is snuck out an alternative exit
Chaos erupted on the University of Hong Kong campus again last night as angry students besieged a governing council meeting, although members agreed to start a review of the institution’s governance structure in the wake of a stormy political year.
By 10pm, about 200 student protesters remained at the Sassoon Road campus in Pok Fu Lam, refusing to let new council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and HKU vice chancellor Peter Mathieson leave.
READ MORE: ‘Reasonable’ for University of Hong Kong students to besiege council meeting, says student union president
“Conversation!” they yelled, demanding talks with them. The students stormed the venue upon an apparent misunderstanding that there would be no immediate review, but they were kept well away from the meeting room.
Police Tactical Unit officers were deployed to help council members leave. One female employee was injured and sent to hospital.
“We want a detailed timetable and a face-to-face conversation with Li...”
The council agreed to appoint Terry Au Kit-fong, chair professor of psychology, as the interim pro-vice-chancellor for academic staffing and resources, a post that the council controversially refused to let pro-democracy law professor Johannes Chan Man-mun take up last year. That triggered a storm, with critics complaining of political interference.
Although the university announced after the council meeting that it would set up a committee to review HKU’s governance structure, Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok, an organiser of the protest, said her group remained unconvinced.
“We want a detailed timetable and a face-to-face conversation with Li,” Leung said. “Or else it would be just like an empty promise to deceive students.”
HKU students had held a week-long class boycott before yesterday’s council meeting, urging members to set up a committee to review how the university is governed and prevent any further political interference.
They demanded that the chief executive should no longer be the default chancellor of HKU and be stripped of the right to appoint members to the council.
In a press release, HKU said the council had “unanimously agreed” to set up a review panel to study the governance and effectiveness of the institution and to receive views from the public.
This would be in the spirit of a Niland Report issued in 2003 and 2009, which suggested such a review be carried out every five years, it added, and would also come about the same time as the University Grants Committee issued a consultancy report on governance of all the universities in the city shortly.
HKU was the centre of a divisive and emotional dispute throughout last year. Former education secretary Li, nicknamed “the Tsar”, was appointed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in December despite strong opposition from many students and alumni. The education leader’s critics saw him as high-handed and unfit for the chairman’s role.
Li’s appointment came after the council’s widely criticised decision to reject the candidacy of Johannes Chan, who was recommended by a search committee for the pro-vice-chancellorship. Li was one of the council members who spoke strongly against Chan’s promotion.
At the meeting yesterday, Li dismissed one of the agenda items, which asked the council to receive a letter from the HKU Convocation noting that more than 4,000 alumni had voted against him filling the chairman’s post. Li was understood to have told members the vote was not representative because it only reflected a small percentage of the whole alumni body.
Council member Leonie Ki Man-fung was stuck in an ambulance for an hour before the vehicle found its way through the crowd blocking the area outside the building at about 11pm.
She complained she was sick and requested an ambulance, but she was criticised by the students for abusing the services.
As of 12.30am, Li and Mathieson had not been seen and were believed to be still stuck inside the building with all exits surrounded by the students.
Hours long standoff ends as Arthur Li escorted by police through alternative exit
At 12.45am, about four hours into the standoff, a chaotic scene erupted after hours of quiet standoff, when a dozen of officers approached the car park of the building, where they were confronted by students.
But the police move-in was immediately realized as a tactical distraction by students, with some seeing Li leaving the building and driven away in a black car after exiting through an alternate door of the car park.
His departure was later confirmed by the university communication department.
At 1.30am, Mathieson appeared outside the building and started a 30-minute dialogue with students.
Angry students said they were disappointed that Li had promised there would be a dialogue after the meeting but he ended up leaving in haste without notifying them.
Mathieson said he and Li had agreed to meet the student representatives in 10 days, and said he supported the council decision to set up the review committee after the release of the University Grants Committee’s consultancy report on governance.
But Mathieson told the students that he and other council members were disappointed by the siege on the meeting venue. He said that he felt his life had been in danger.
“When I tried to leave the building [at] about half past eight, I felt my life was in danger,” he said. “I was in a crash, and I was in physical danger. And I was disappointed by that too. I don’t think I or any other council members should have to put up with that.”
He added: “I think it was a very unfortunate episode. I think it has damaged the university’s reputation. I don’t think it actually helps the cause you are aiming to promote.”
About 200 students stayed on after Mathieson left the site.
