Former HKU dean of student affairs Albert Chau Wai-lap named as potential vice-president in teaching and learning right before scheduled consultations
SHIRLEY.ZHAO@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 25 April, 2016, 1:53pm
During his time at HKU, Albert Chau (right) was well respected as being open and supportive. Photo: Felix Wong
Former University of Hong Kong dean of student affairs Albert Chau Wai-lap was on Monday revealed to be the only candidate for the post of Baptist University’s vice-president in teaching and learning.
Chau will meet the university’s staff, students and alumni in three consultations on Monday.
But students and staff members have been complaining that they have had little time to prepare for the consultation because the identity of the candidate had been kept secret until right before it started.
The university’s staff union had earlier called for a boycott of the consultation. Criticisms included that no staff member was on the selection committee, there was only one final candidate for consultation, and staff members did not know the identity of the candidate before the consultations.
The selection process, conducted by a nine-member search committee, including one undergraduate and one postgraduate student representative, started late last year.
During his time at HKU, Chau was well respected as being open and supportive to students.
After the 2011 controversy where students were manhandled and blocked from protesting by the police during then vice-premier Li Keqiang’s visit to HKU, Chau expressed his disappointment over the police’s handling of the issue.
Chau, who was in charge of coordination between police and student protesters, later wrote in a newspaper column that he felt “very uncomfortable” that he had to negotiate with police on every minor detail, and that he could only follow the police’s judgement even though he had questions over their arrangement.
He said in the column that he did not understand why Li could not have casual talks with teachers and students, but had to resort to heavy security. He also criticised the security arrangements as pitting police and the university against the public.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1938325/baptist-university-staff-and-students-upset-last
