A group of HKU professors held a closed-door meeting last month to discuss how the National Security Law would affect freedom of research at the university, while talking about whether the professors would receive legal support from the university and the consequences of being reported by students if they were accused of violating the National Security Law, and the professors present showed pessimistic disappointment, according to a professor at the University of Hong Kong, who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Atlantic reported.
However, a graduate student soon reported two HKU professors for allegedly violating the National Security Law.
The report also pointed out that the reporter interviewed a total of 10 current or former members of four universities in Hong Kong. They all reflected that the university institutions provided little support when members of the university were targeted by the official media or legislators. The president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Duan Chongzhi, even issued a joint statement with four other universities last June in support of the national security law, much to the surprise of faculty members.
The report also emphasized that the forces suppressing academic freedom often do not come from outside the system, but from students and professors within the system.
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