Alumni, students and teachers rally behind need for decision on delayed appointment
JEFFIE LAMjeffie.lam@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 September, 2015, 11:52pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 27 September, 2015, 11:52pm
Staff, alumni and students urged a decision.Photo: Felix Wong
The governing council of the University of Hong Kong has been urged to make a final decision on whether to appoint a liberal scholar to a key managerial post through an open ballot at its meeting on Tuesday.
HKU alumni, students and teaching staff yesterday came out with a joint call four weeks after the university's Convocation - a statutory body comprising all graduates and teachers - voted overwhelmingly to demand the university appoint the sole candidate recommended by the search committee, former law dean Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, within 30 days.
In June, the council, dominated by pro-establishment representatives with six seats appointed by the chief executive, voted 12-6 in a secret ballot to defer deliberations on the long-awaited appointment until a new provost was appointed - a decision criticised by students and staff as "absurd". A month later, it voted 12-8 to uphold its decision.
Billy Fung Jing-en, HKU student union president and also a council member, said the board had seldom made a decision through a vote, and even if it did, it was done by a show of hands.
"But in my tenure, the council has already voted several times … through secret ballots," he said.
The three parties urged council members to cast their votes in an open ballot so they would be accountable for their decision, adding that council chairman and sole spokesman Dr Leong Che-hung should explain the rationale to the public.
"The council … should either respect and endorse the recommendation made by the search committee or reject it and offer a convincing justification," said education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen, who convenes the HKU alumni concern group.
"If the council handles it well, perhaps it could win back the credibility it has lost. If not, HKU would enter a very dangerous situation," he said.
Dr William Cheung Sing-wai, chairman of the HKU Academic Staff Association, called on council members to vote according to their conscience.
"If the council fails to offer a justifiable account of its decision and determines to step on academic freedom, school strikes might be one of the things that could happen," he said.
Fung said on Sunday that students had yet to discuss what action they would take tomorrow.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1861927/hold-open-ballot-top-university-hong-kong-job
