The University of Hong Kong Council adopted the appointment of two scholars who have both the background of Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of California, Berkeley, Shen Zuojun and Gong Peng as Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, allegedly with the background of the Tsinghua Communist Party Committee, Shen Zuojun clarified that he is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and even more so, not the Party Committee. A democratic school committee accepted that there is not enough evidence to prove that Shen Zuojun is a party member, but the student body still does not accept the two vice presidents, will seek legal means to overturn the decision; HKU alumni concern group even pointed out that the incident is China’s “party committee to govern the university” model is forcibly embedded in the HKU, academic freedom and institutional autonomy is in doubt.
The University of Hong Kong Alumni Concerns Group (UACG) has also pointed out that the incident is a reflection of China’s embedding of its “party committee model” in the University of Hong Kong, and that academic freedom and institutional autonomy are in doubt. It is understood that the 22-member University Council voted overwhelmingly to approve the appointment of two people, two of the appointment motion were only one student representative Li Zicheng against Shen Zu-Jun and one abstention, meaning that if the student body can not overturn the appointment decision, Shen Zu-Jun and Gong Peng will be new from January next year, in charge of research and academic development at the University of Hong Kong, a five-year term.
The University’s Alumni Concern Group, whose spokesman and Councilor Mak Tung-wing asked for the delay, said after the meeting that through funding, Shen’s position could have an impact on research in the humanities, while Gong Peng’s position could have a central impact on personnel. He went on to say that the appointment process is a manifestation of a major policy, first by the Chief Executive as Chancellor of Hong Kong to influence the University Council through the appointment of members, then by the Chancellor appointed by the Council to influence the University of Hong Kong, so that the University of Hong Kong towards centralized power, and now even more forcefully in mainland China’s party committee governance embedded in the University of Hong Kong. He worries that HKU will change from an international university in Asia to a Chinese university in Asia.
The President of HKU, Zhang Xiang, sent a letter to students and faculty after the approval of the two appointments, to which he attached a public statement by Shen Zuojun. Shen stated that he had been teaching at Berkeley since 2004, and that the position of department chair at Tsinghua was honorary in nature, and that he would only spend a few weeks a year at Tsinghua and would not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the department. As for the media reports about his name appearing in different years of the Tsinghua Party Committee, he affirmed that he is not a member of the Communist Party of China, nor is he a member of the Party Committee, but that it was an oversight on the part of the Tsinghua webmaster who erroneously included his name as department chair in the list of Party Committee members, and that Tsinghua had corrected it after his inquiry. It is believed that he was referring to the website’s removal of his name from the party committee list, but Tsinghua has not made any official clarification.
Gong Peng, who was accused of helping Xu Bing, daughter of then Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua, enroll at Berkeley more than a decade ago in exchange for research funding, also issued a public statement denying the accusations, saying that they were malicious online rumors against Xu and had no basis in fact. As for his collaboration with Chinese universities, it was arranged and managed by the universities and he assisted them free of charge.
University Council: Political ties should not be a priority
The University of Hong Kong’s Council Chairman Li Kwok-cheung, who was formerly the Director of Education, also issued a statement, saying that the Council was satisfied with the clarifications made by the two professors on related issues, and that all the allegations were unfounded.
However, the undergraduate student representative of the University Council, Li Tze-shing, who was part of the meeting, said in a radio program this morning (28th) that he had doubts about the explanation of Shen Zuojun, because Tsinghua’s public data show that in 2014 and 17, Shen became a party committee in the general election, and not just an honorary one. He stressed that since Shen’s background is controversial, he believes that due diligence should be conducted again, and that the vote should not be taken in real time. He regretted that the University Council did not listen to the views of many HKU stakeholders.
He pointed out that more reference information was provided at the meeting, satisfied that there is no concrete evidence to prove that Shen Zuojun is a party committee or party member, and the selection committee after proper procedures to make a recommendation, the University Council should not override the relevant procedures, otherwise there will be a repeat of the HKU Law School Professor Chen Wenmin was recommended by the University Council rejected as Vice President of the controversy.
It is understood that the main difference discussed at the meeting is whether the university should consider the political connections of the hired person, President Zhang Xiang believes that the University Committee should be recommended by the academic background and outstanding achievements as a consideration, agreed by most of the University Committee, which even some individual University Committee, Vice President candidate is not important whether the Party Committee.
The University of Hong Kong Student Union strongly condemned the appointment of the vice presidents last night after a meeting. The University Council’s decision symbolizes the end of academic freedom at the University of Hong Kong.
During the discussion, about 100 students staged a sit-in outside the venue in response to the student union’s appeal, but the decision to appoint Shen and Gong as Vice Chancellors was not changed.
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