2015-02-13
Law professor and democracy activist Johannes Chan, Jan. 7, 2013.
Wikipedia
Growing controversy over the government appointment of a top academic at the University of Hong Kong has sparked calls for an inquiry, amid reports that the city’s leadership interfered to prevent the appointment of a pro-democracy candidate for the job.
Law professor and democracy activist Johannes Chan, who is among the candidates for the post of pro-vice-chancellor called on Friday for a review of the government’s role in higher education in the former British colony.
Local media reports have accused the territory’s embattled chief executive C.Y. Leung of telling members of the university’s council not to elect Chan, who is a member of the Hong Kong 2020 group campaigning for greater democracy.
“The government has considerable power over governance of tertiary institutions, and it doesn’t seem right,” Chan told an event at Cambridge University. “For example, why should the chief executive be the chancellor of all [public] universities?”
“Universities should be accountable because they are publicly funded, but there are different ways of accountability, and that is something that we have to think of, about the system itself,” said Chan, who declined to comment on the controversy surrounding his potential candidacy.
Concerns over government interference in academic freedom first surfaced last month when Leung hit out at a student magazine, Undergrad, for discussing issues of self-determination for Hong Kong, which was promised a “high degree of autonomy” under the terms of its 1997 handover to Beijing.
Chan has since been attacked by a pro-Beijing newspaper, which criticized his research record during his time as law dean at the university, based on a leaked research evaluation report.
Leung’s office has denied any involvement in the selection process for pro-vice-chancellor, but senior government adviser Sophia Kao has admitted discussing the appointment with unidentified persons, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.
Former Ming Pao newspaper editor Kevin Lau Chun-to and lawmaker Dennis Kwok, have also repeated the claims of official interference in the selection process.
Investigation planned
Educational sector lawmaker and university board member Ip Kin-yuen now plans to launch an investigation into the allegations of political interference into the pro-vice-chancellor recruitment process via the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo).
“If the council members received such calls in the selection process … it is very serious,” Ip told government broadcaster RTHK on Friday. “It risks destroying academic freedom and the reputation of the university within a minute,” he said.
Teachers’ union leader Fung Wai-wah agreed.
