After Johannes Chan is denied administrative position, the politicization of HKU’s decisions should be protested by more than just students at the university.
Yellow umbrellas.
For the average student at Ohio University, umbrellas are just a tool to avoid the rain, but at the University of Hong Kong, they are a symbol of freedom and democracy.
Before thousands of students and faculty at HKU assembled last Tuesday and Friday to rally for stronger academic freedom and autonomy, the university’s governing council disallowed law professor Johannes Chan from taking the position of pro-vice-chancellor on Sept. 29.
From September to December 2014, thousands of students and other citizens of Hong Kong rallied for a revolution to bring about democracy. Yellow umbrellas became a symbol of the movement.
With the history of many of the school’s students participating in the pro-democracy rallies in 2014, The Guardian said Timothy O’Leary, the head of the school of humanities, attributed the vote to a political revenge for the umbrella protests.
These protests are a hopeful sign that, even though the large-scale umbrella protests are in the past and these policies are still fighting against democracy and academic freedom, students in Hong Kong are still standing up and speaking out (figuratively).
The marches at HKU may have been silent protests against the council and the influence of Beijing, but the voices of those involved were heard loud and clear.
The Guardian wrote, “Chan described an increasingly politicized atmosphere on campus, with academics expressing growing nervousness over their ability to speak openly without damaging their careers.”
Contrary to the seemingly political ventures that the pro-democracy rallies have taken, the autonomy and academic freedom of recent controversy is something that students and faculty alike want to be politically neutral. At OU, there is no doubt that students would want politics to stay out of decisions made by the Board of Trustees or President McDavis’ office.
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The HKU council decision should be seen as a threat not only to the students and faculty living there, but also to any students around the world who care about academic freedom and autonomy. Just as the pro-democracy umbrella rallies were condoned and supported by many people globally, so should this demonstration.
The Hong Kong Free Press reported that O’Leary explained why the march was organized and for who they were demonstrating.
“We march in silence to demonstrate to ourselves and the city of Hong Kong what a university would be like if its academic staff and students are silent,” he said.
When Hong Kong was released from British power in 1997, the city promised that core personal and commercial freedoms would be protected for 50 years. If the HKU marches are only a few instances of many in the history of transgressions of the city of Hong Kong and the nation of China against the British-backed constitution, more people than the students of the university need to be questioning who has power.
If these injustices were to happen at OU, students would be in uproar. It is the duty of any student of higher education to demand academic freedom and neutral politics within the institution. If HKU students raise their umbrellas for justice, OU students should raise theirs’ for more than a rainy day.
Brian Fogel is a freshman studying journalism and a photographer for The Post. What do you think about the protests in Hong Kong? Tweet him @FrianBogel or email him at bf111514@ohio.edu.
