HKU Students' Union Wants Benny Tai Sacking Revoked

The University of Hong Kong students' union has called on the school's governing council to rescind its decision to fire associate law professor Benny Tai, saying they will boycott those who voted for the dismissal if a response is not given soon.

The union handed the school a petition signed by 2,500 students, staff members and alumni, asking the council to explain why it didn't follow the senate's advice and let Tai keep his job. They have asked for a response within a week.

Tai was sacked due to his conviction over involvement in the 2014 Occupy protests.

The president of the students' union Edy Yeh said the council's decision was a political one and it did not have a valid reason to dismiss Tai.

"You can see that the liaison office of the CCP issued a statement on this matter as well, so we can see there's a linkage between the council's decision and the liaison office. We believe that actually it is a political mission the CCP gave the HKU council," Yeh said.

"We hope that the council will explain their action and decision before August 10. If not, we will have follow up actions targeting the 18 council members who voted for [dismissing Tai] on July 28," she said.

"We believe that institutes all over the world and the academia now know what the council has done to undermine academic freedom, so we believe these institutes will now also condemn and boycott those members as well," the student leader said.

Daniel Lei, a student member of the council, said the number of signatures represents the university as a whole, including teaching staff and the alumni.

“Eighteen people in the council overrode the senate decision, that is why we have such a petition,” he said. “It is a very big contrast between 18 people and our 2,500 people including the alumni and the teaching staff.”

Tai – one of the founders of the 2014 civil disobedience movement – was sentenced to 16 months in prison over public nuisance charges related to the mass protests. He's out on bail, pending an appeal.

In a statement issued after Tai made public his dismissal, the council said it had arrived at the decision after "stringent and impartial due process, and after careful deliberations and considerations".