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HKU council controversy
Hong KongEducation

University of Hong Kong students and staff united in desire to remove city’s leader as chancellor

  • Chief executive holds post by default, but student and staff unions want that changed
  • Call comes after controversial chairman Arthur Li is reappointed to lead governing council

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Davin Kenneth Wong, president of the Hong Kong University Student Union, is among those calling for the removal of the city’s leader as chancellor. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Ernest Kao

Students and staff at Hong Kong’s oldest university started the new year with a joint appeal to the governing council to remove the chancellor’s powers to appoint members and select its chairman behind closed doors.

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The University of Hong Kong’s Student Union, Academic Staff Association, and Alumni Concern Group, said amending the university statutes would be the easiest way to introduce much-needed change in governance, forgoing the need for legislative amendments.

This came as controversial government adviser Arthur Li Kwok-cheung began his second term as council chairman on Tuesday, having been reappointed last month by Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, a move the groups called a “grave misdeed”.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s decision to reappoint Arthur Li as chairman of HKU’s governing council has been called a ‘grave misdeed’. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s decision to reappoint Arthur Li as chairman of HKU’s governing council has been called a ‘grave misdeed’. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

According to the 108-year-old institution’s governing ordinance, the school’s top position of chancellor is by default the city’s chief executive.

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Though largely ceremonial, the chancellor has the power to appoint seven non-student or staff members to the 24-member governing council, including the chairman.

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