Meeting over pro-vice-chancellor appointment also raised security concerns as former chairman sought preparation ‘if somebody tossed a fire bomb’
DANNY.MOK@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 27 November, 2015, 10:27am
UPDATED : Friday, 27 November, 2015, 10:52am
Dr Leong Che-hung (left) and Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung. Photo: Felix Wong
University of Hong Kong council member Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung suggested taking legal action against students who stormed a meeting in July, according to another leaked council meeting audio recording published last night.
The leak, which followed a different one on Wednesday, also revealed that during a meeting of the institution’s governing body when meeting venue and security were being considered, then-council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung said there should be an alternative exit for members to use“if somebody tossed a fire bomb”.
The recording was said to be taken from an August 25 council meeting and was uploaded to popular Taiwanese online forum PTT, as two of the three earlier leaks were.
Yesterday’s leak marked the fifth relating to the council’s private deliberations over the candidacy of former law dean Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun to the position of university pro-vice-chancellor.
It revealed that Li asked Dr Steven Cannon, an HKU executive vice-president, whether the university had collected evidence to identify the students involved in the storming.
Cannon said the institution had obtained video and photographic evidence and that they could identify the individuals involved in the storming.
He said it had been looking at what legal options might be available.
The storming took place on July 28. A group of HKU students and other protesters forced their way into the council’s meeting room in Knowles Building on the main campus, and demanded council members stop delaying Chan’s appointment to the key managerial post.
During the meeting, Li, hotly tipped to succeed Leong as chairman, was heard in the clip suggesting that the students involved should be identified for disciplinary action.
He said to Leong, who stepped down on November 6, that if the council were found not to have properly handled the storming, then any council member could take civil action against the students and the council because Leong did not protect its members.
Li said: “I can take civil action against the University of Hong Kong. I can pursue a criminal case against the students.”
In one of his responses to the matter, Leong said the council would via Facebook be identifying other involved students.
In a discussion over how security for the council’s meeting venue could be improved, Leong said: “We want to make sure there’s another door that members can use to leave should the only existing door be barricaded and somebody tosses a firebomb or something ... We need a proper meeting place and not just a makeshift thing.”
In a discussion over how security for the council’s meeting venue could be improved, Leong said: “We want to make sure there’s another door that members can use to leave should the only existing door be barricaded and somebody tosses a firebomb or something ... We need a proper meeting place and not just a makeshift thing.”
Since the storming, council meetings have tightened in security and been moved to a research building on Sassoon Road.
Yesterday’s leak was the third made this month through an online platform called PTT operated from Taiwan.
On Wednesday, a clip revealed that university president Peter Mathieson had shown support for Chan shortly before the council blocked him from taking up the post.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1884087/sue-students-hku-council-member-arthur-li
