Student union, staff and alumni groups complain former education minister is ‘worst choice’ for key post
SHIRLEY ZHAO AND JASMINE SIU
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 31 December, 2015, 12:48am
UPDATED : Thursday, 31 December, 2015, 12:48am
Arthur Li Kwok-cheung will begin his term as chairman on January 1, 2016. Photo: Felix Wong
Former education minister Arthur Li Kwok-cheung has been appointed as the new chairman of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council, despite strong opposition from the student union, some staff and alumni groups.
Li, a divisive figure dubbed “King Arthur” by critics who find him abrasive and high handed, will start a three-year term from January 1.
The appointment by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was announced in the Government Gazette last night and was met with a new chorus of condemnation.
HKU student union president Billy Fung Jing-en expressed anger and disappointment, and vowed to be uncooperative with the council as a member himself.
But he stressed he had no plan to organise a class boycott at the moment.
“At this moment of disadvantage, what we need is a wise step, not a quick step,” he wrote on Facebook. “So, the students’ union and I will do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time.”
Another council member, philosophy professor Timothy O’Leary, issued a statement saying Li’s appointment “underlines the deficiencies of the current system of university governance across Hong Kong”.
“I myself am on record saying that Arthur Li would be a very poor choice as chairman,” the head of HKU’s School of Humanities wrote.
He added it was now more important than ever to remain vigilant in safeguarding the university’s core values, in particular its institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
The HKU Alumni Concern Group and the Academic Staff Association of The University of Hong Kong said in a joint statement condemning the appointment and complaining that it clearly did not have HKU’s best interests in mind at a time when it desperately needed to restore peace and calm after six months of conflict.
The 69-year-old executive councillor has already clashed with some students and staff members. In March, just days after becoming a member of the council, he criticised some HKU professors for allegedly not attending to their duties in conducting research and teaching students, thus precipitating the university’s fall in international rankings.
READ MORE: Johannes Chan: Arthur Li ‘not the type of person’ to lead HKU
In July, angry students stormed a council meeting after it voted to delay discussion on whether to appoint liberal scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun to a key managerial post. Chan’s candidacy was later rejected amid a bitter row as his supporters accused pro-government council members of politicising an academic matter because of Chan’s friendship with Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting.
Li accused the students of staging “Hong Kong’s Cultural Revolution”.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1896674/storm-protest-arthur-li-appointed-hong-kong
