CUHK removes ex-union members from committees

Chinese University’s student union says eight former executive members have been disqualified from various university committees.

The representatives were part of the now-disbanded student cabinet, Syzygia, which resigned en masse in March following a move by the university to cut ties with it.

The university had announced in February that it would stop providing administrative support to the student union, as well as venues for its activities, accusing the newly elected Syzygia of having made false allegations against the university and using the campus to spread “political propaganda”.

In its manifesto, Syzygia had accused the university of “kowtowing to the regime”. It had also vowed to fight the “unjust regime” and said the Beijing-imposed national security law infringes on basic human rights and freedom.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the union said the university notified it that the eight student representatives, including former union president Isaac Lam, had now been disqualified from the various committees.

The union said it deeply regretted these “personal attacks” against the students.

It stressed that the university should not deprive any student of their freedom to sit on a university committee to monitor the institution’s affairs.