LAI YING-KIT YINGKIT.LAI@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 02 September, 2015, 12:41pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 02 September, 2015, 12:41pm
Man Cheuk-fei said the alumni meeting saw a record-high attendance. Photo: Sam Tsang
A University of Hong Kong alumni believed that views expressed during Tuesday’s alumni meeting would be noted by their alma mater’s governing council.
Man Cheuk-fei, an alumni and a member of the university’s council, said the alumni meeting saw a record-high attendance and eager debate on the controversially delayed appointment of a pro-vice-chancellor.
”We have not seen this before,” Man, who was the only council member to have attended the meeting, said. “I think the university council will surely take reference of the results,” he said on a DBC programme.
“Last night gave me the feeling that all of us are looking closely at the appointment,” Man said.
More than 3,000 alumni gathered on Tuesday evening to debate the controversially delayed appointment of Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, a former law dean lambasted by Beijing-loyalist media over his ties to an Occupy Central co-founder.
Dubbed the “biggest reunion of HKU alumni”, it was an extraordinary general meeting of the HKU Convocation, a statutory body comprising 162,000 graduates and lecturers.
The alumni debated motions including calls for Chan to be appointed, for the chief executive to be removed as chancellor and for structural reform. Another supported a statement by 10 HKU faculty deans, which called for institutional autonomy but condemned the storming of a council meeting by disgruntled students.
A count of the votes was still ongoing, with results due for Wednesday afternoon.
Man said he and Chan had worked on the university council’s committee to investigate controversies surrounding security measures during then vice-premier Li Keqiang‘s visit to the university in August 2011.
He described Chan as an “engaging” person with solid academic qualifications and said Chan’s political stance should not play a part in the decision to appoint. “We worked together for about half year. I could see he is engaging and has a love for HKU,” he said.
”His academic credentials are unquestionable. He has 12 years of experience as a dean ... So I think we should have a comprehensive view of him, in terms of academic and administrative abilities.”
”His political view, I think, does not matter,” Man said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1854658/record-breaking-meeting-sees-3000-hku-alumni
