JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/FILE
Prodemocracy activists and cofounders of the Occupy movement in Hong Kong (from left) Kin-man Chan, Benny Tai, and the Rev. Yiu-ming Chu, showed their unity after announcing on Dec. 2, 2014, that they would turn themselves into police. Tai, an associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, has had professional problems since the protest that shut down parts of the city and angered China’s government.
By Suzanne Sataline GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 14, 2015
FOR WEEKS LAST winter, two Hong Kong newspapers deluged readers with coverage about Johannes Chan, a law school professor at the city’s oldest college, the University of Hong Kong. Readers of Wen Wei Po were treated to a leaked report showing that the quality of the law faculty’s research had slumped while he was dean, blaming it on Chan’s “dereliction of duty.” By “harboring” a colleague who had protested against Beijing’s dictates, Chan had “failed to undertake his responsibility as a manager,” the paper cried. Another story quoted the leader of a Hong Kong party loyal to Beijing: Chan was “absolutely unfit” for an academic promotion.
Savvy readers in Hong Kong knew that this was an attack from on high.
Chan, the respected architect of city human rights policies, has steadily pushed for democratic elections even as Beijing has tried to rein in the rowdy former British colony. While dean, Chan backed a law school faculty member who helped organize last fall’s 79-day democracy protest. The sit-in drew tens of thousands of people, many of whom gulped tear gas and endured pepper spray while chanting for the city’s chief executive to resign. Organizers and participants were vilified by the mainland press and some Hong Kong papers including Wen Wei Po, which trumpets Communist party spin.
The focus on Chan hasn’t let up. Nearly a year since Hong Kong’s political unrest began, he and other academics in the democracy cause have been questioned, scrutinized, and in one case, demoted. Hong Kong residents fear that professors can no longer challenge the government. Given the Communist party’s long history of squelching mouthy scholars, they’re convinced that the national government is directing the reprisals, intent on silencing people who might weaken state control.
In late July, HKU’s governing council — many of whose members are selected by the city’s chief executive — delayed a vice presidential promotion expected to go to Chan. Hundreds of alumni, journalists, and academics have signed a petition, urging the council to vote. “How can we in Hong Kong not believe that the whole thing is done out of political motives?” says city lawmaker Kin-yuen Ip, founder of an HKU alumni group started to support faculty who feel under siege. “That will seriously hurt academic freedom in Hong Kong.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/08/13/hong-kong-academic-freedom-under-fire/hJ6upYtbMalJgE9Ez0MmWI/story.html?event=event25
