Goddess of Democracy
On 29 May 2010, when the CUHK student union sought to permanently locate a 'Goddess of Democracy' statue on campus, the administrative and planning committee of the University convened an emergency meeting for 1 June, chaired by incumbent Vice-chancellor Lawrence Lau, to consider the request. The application was turned down; the reason provided was the need for the University to maintain political neutrality. Staff and students objected to the refusal, however, accusing the committee of self-censorship; students declared they were prepared for a stand-off against the University, saying they would ensure the statues were accommodated on campus "at all costs".
A student meeting was convened, and student union President Eric Lai told 2,000 attendees that the University officials should apologise for their opposition of the art display. On 4 June, bowing to public outcry and student pressure, the University relented, and allowed the statue on campus.
Vice-chancellor designate Joseph Sung, who was consulted on the vote in absentia, admitted that it was the biggest political storm in 21 years. He revealed that, in addition to preserving political neutrality, safety and security concerns were factors in the decision. He also drew a distinction between this application - for a permanent University installation - and hypothetical applications for short-term expressions of free speech, suggesting the latter would have been more likely to be approved, but he criticised the management team as "immature" and "inexperienced" in handling the incident.
An editorial in The Standard criticised the committee's naivety in not anticipating the reaction. It was also highly critical of Sung for seeking to distance himself from the decision with such a "lame excuse". Outgoing Vice-chancellor Lawrence Lau defended the committee's decision as "collective and unanimous" after "detailed consideration," citing the unanimous vote of the administrative and planning committee, and he disagreed with Sung's characterization of the management team. While the vote was unanimous, however, Sung stated that he had suggested the wording of the decision include the qualification that the committee "had not reached a consensus."
The student union said the two professors should have communicated to reach a consensus, and that Lau's reply "failed to explain why the school used political neutrality as a reason to reject the statue."
Read more about this topic: JLM, Controversies
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