A History of Student Movements at HKUST: The Students' Union and Major Campus Events

Module note (checked, not found) HKUST (founded 1991) is a comparatively young institution among Hong Kong's universities, and its documented history of student movements is correspondingly thin. When the Tiananmen events occurred in 1989, HKUST had not yet begun formally admitting students (the first cohort enrolled in October 1991); accordingly, no record has been found of anyone participating in the 1989 solidarity activities in the capacity of an "HKUST student" — the broader Hong Kong-wide history of such solidarity activities is recorded by other institutions. On language-of-instruction policy, likewise no documented, student-led policy campaign has been found. On environmental and campus-life issues, there is an officially recorded student sustainability society, but no documented student protest action has been found.

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# I. Founding of the Students' Union (1991–1992)

According to the English Wikipedia^※ and the Chinese Wikipedia^※, after HKUST's first cohort of students enrolled in October 1991, students soon began preparing to establish a union representing the whole student body. The preparatory committee's charter went through two campus-wide referendums and revisions before finally being passed on 24–25 November 1992; the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Students' Union (HKUSTSU) was formally established on 27 November 1992^※ and registered with the Hong Kong Police Force as an independent society under the Societies Ordinance, unaffiliated with the university.

Two basic features of the Union's founding have repeatedly shaped its fortunes since. First, it was registered as an independent society, not affiliated with the university — meaning the university has no legal power to dissolve it, but also no obligation to collect membership dues or provide premises for it. Second, from the preparatory stage it was designed around a "separation of powers" logic, dividing executive, legislative, and judicial functions among separate organs (detailed in the next section). This self-governing framework, built for a new university in the early 1990s, is both the institutional basis on which it has been able to remain in operation while other unions have gone dormant, and — once its membership base shrank — a source of structural fragility, with organs sitting idle and seats going unfilled.

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# II. Organisational Structure: Separation of Powers and Over a Hundred Affiliated Societies

According to the English Wikipedia^※, the Students' Union has four constitutional organs, roughly corresponding to "executive, legislative, judicial, and media" functions:

According to the Chinese Wikipedia^※, the Union's judicial organ, the Court, has been suspended since 23 November 2017, with its judicial functions acting-exercised by the Council ever since. This means the "separation of powers" design has, in practice, been missing a piece for some time: an organ meant to be independent of the legislature, tasked with adjudicating internal disputes and interpreting the constitution, has stood vacant for an extended period, and its functions have reverted to the Council — legislative and judicial power now held concurrently by the same organ, weakening the institutional check that separation of powers was meant to provide. This state of suspension, together with the idling seen in recent elections, forms two of the through-lines for understanding the Union's "remaining in place but hollowed out" condition.

Beneath the four organs, the Union has over a hundred affiliated societies, which the English Wikipedia divides into six categories: independent societies, culture and arts, sports, hall student associations, departmental societies, and school societies. Affiliated societies are the layer of the Union closest to everyday campus life, and are also the main source of Council representation — most Council seats are allocated by category of affiliated society, with only ten seats open to campus-wide nomination and elected by direct vote of the full membership, the popularly elected seats. This composition means that, within the Council, the only seats not tied to any affiliated society's representational claim, and directly reflecting the will of ordinary members, are those ten popularly elected seats; once those seats go unfilled, the Council becomes correspondingly more dependent on affiliated-society representatives rather than a cross-society voice from the membership at large.

This two-tier "organ—affiliated society" structure functioned smoothly when membership was ample. But as membership fell from a peak of roughly 4,000 to just over 1,000 (according to the Chinese Wikipedia, approximately 1,200 as of May 2025; see also Section IX below and 〈Membership Fees and the Membership Crisis〉), the risk of organs sitting idle has surfaced: the judicial organ has been suspended for years, and popularly elected Council seats have repeatedly drawn no candidates. The institutional detail of this, and the 2024–2026 election record, is covered separately in this site's 〈The "Uncontested" Era of HKUSTSU Elections〉.

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# III. The Student Newspaper Wings: An Editorial Board that Predates the Union

The student newspaper Wings (振翅)^※ was founded before the Students' Union was formally established: according to the Chinese Wikipedia, its inaugural issue was published on 2 December 1991, nearly a year before the Union's formal founding in November 1992. This time gap is itself telling about the path of HKUST's early student self-governance — student public expression (a campus publication) preceded the formation of a representative body, and the Editorial Board is, in a sense, one of the earliest-formed organs of the Union.

Wings has been published by the Union's Editorial Board to this day, and back issues have been uploaded, in cooperation with the university library, to the university's digital archive^※ for preservation. According to the English Wikipedia, the Editorial Board also publishes WINGS High Fly Post. As the only one of the Union's four constitutional organs tasked with a "media" function, the Editorial Board has, in recent elections, likewise faced an "uncontested" difficulty — in multiple election cycles only a single slate registered, requiring election by threshold vote (recorded in 〈The "Uncontested" Era of Elections〉). The survival of student media is bound up with the Union's overall membership and staffing situation.

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# IV. Evolution of Relations with the Hong Kong Federation of Students (1991–2013)

The relationship between the HKUST Students' Union and the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) has evolved over more than two decades.

According to the Chinese Wikipedia^※, in its early years the HKUST Students' Union participated in HKFS as an "affiliate member," with a right to speak but no vote, paying a nominal fee of a few hundred dollars. In 1999, when HKFS proposed abolishing the affiliate-member status, the Union's leadership expressed disagreement, on the view that HKFS's political stance and fee levels did not match the Union's wishes, and it was unwilling to upgrade to full membership requiring higher dues. In 2001, the Union held a campus-wide referendum on joining HKFS, but turnout was only about 6% and the referendum failed to pass — this very low turnout itself also suggests, indirectly, that most HKUST students at the time had limited interest in whether to join a territory-wide student federation. Disagreement over the fee burden and over political positioning are the two through-lines behind the Union's delay of more than a decade in formally joining.

Subsequently, the Union's leadership revisited the question of joining in early 2012, holding discussions and a vote, and decided to apply, becoming a probationary member. In 2013, the HKUST Students' Union voted by campus-wide referendum to join HKFS, becoming the last university students' union to join HKFS^※ (according to the English Wikipedia, formally effective from 1 April 2013).

HKUST's "last-minute" entry came right at a turning point in HKFS's standing. Less than two years after HKUST joined, HKFS suffered the largest membership loss in its history: according to the English Wikipedia^※, in early 2015, five of HKFS's eight member unions held referendums on withdrawal, four of which passed, reducing membership from eight to four. According to the South China Morning Post^※, the University of Hong Kong Students' Union was first to vote, by a narrow majority in a February 2015 referendum, to withdraw, citing dissatisfaction with the transparency of HKFS decision-making; the students' unions of PolyU, Baptist University, and City University subsequently withdrew as well. In this wave of withdrawals, the HKUST Students' Union did not hold a referendum on withdrawing and retained its membership. According to the English Wikipedia, as of this article's cut-off date the HKUST Students' Union remains one of HKFS's four members. In other words, HKUST's late entry and its subsequent staying-put stand in contrast with the "withdrawal" pattern seen at several other universities — it was both the last to join and one of the few to remain through the 2015 wave of departures.

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# V. The Institutional Autonomy Movement (2015–2016)

In March 2015, the Chief Executive (then in office) appointed Mr. Liao as Chairman of the HKUST Council, for a three-year term effective from 6 March 2015^※. According to the English Wikipedia^※, the Students' Union issued a statement shortly after opposing the appointment, describing it as involving 「疑似任人唯亲」(alleged nepotism), on the grounds that Mr. Liao was regarded as a supporter of the Chief Executive then in office. The Hong Kong SAR Government responded that the appointment process followed a merit-based approach.

In October 2015, the Union further called for abolishing the system under which the Chief Executive serves as the university's ex officio Chancellor; according to Hong Kong Free Press^※, the Union took the position that this system was detrimental to institutional autonomy. The "ex officio Chancellor" arrangement refers to the Chief Executive's customary holding of the nominal top office (Chancellor/Visitor) at several of Hong Kong's public universities, and the associated power to appoint the Council Chairman and other key positions — this was the Union's core concern: when the appointing power originates from a political office-holder, the Council's independence and the university's institutional autonomy may be called into question. This demand follows directly from the March opposition to the Council Chairman appointment that same year: the former targeted a specific personnel decision, the latter the underlying system.

In March 2016, the Union held three referendums on institutional autonomy; according to the English Wikipedia^※, all three motions passed, covering:

1. Abolishing the arrangement under which the Chief Executive serves as the university's ex officio Chancellor;
2. Removing the Chief Executive's power to directly appoint Council members;
3. Increasing the proportion of elected representatives for students, staff, and alumni on the Council.

These three referendum motions reflected only student opinion, carried no legal force, and there is no record of the university or the government taking corresponding action. It should be noted that "the Chief Executive serving as ex officio Chancellor" is not unique to HKUST but a provision common to the charters of several public universities in Hong Kong; HKUST's 2015–2016 institutional-autonomy demands can therefore be understood within the broader tension, shared across the eight publicly funded universities during the same period, around Council appointment powers, institutional autonomy, and public accountability (for the related governance framework, see this site's 〈Notes on University Governance and Reform〉 on the Nixon report and the university accountability agreement).

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# VI. The Hall Policy Dispute (2017)

According to the summary in the English Wikipedia^※, in October 2017, the Union protested a change in university hall policy (reportedly reducing the scoring weight given to student-society activities and providing more hall-place quota to non-local students), hanging several banners around campus and calling for the then Vice-President for Student Affairs to step down. After some students found the banners had been torn down late at night, they briefly reported the matter to police; opposing slogans then appeared on campus notice boards over several days. The university subsequently issued a rare joint email, signed by the deans of all schools, criticising the Union's action and calling on all sides to remain calm.

⚠ Single-source caveat: this section is presented on the skeleton of the English Wikipedia's summary; certain details (such as the vice-president's name and exact dates) are presented here from a single source only, and readers should note this. This site carries a separate, more detailed article cross-referencing Apple Daily, Ming Pao, and the Union's own posts — 〈"The Dean of Students Fled in the Night": The 2017 Hall Allocation Policy Dispute〉 — which lays out the banner protest, the late-night tearing-down and police report, and the deans' rare joint email in fuller, multi-source detail; readers may wish to consult it alongside this section.

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# VII. The "Frog Path" Graffiti: From the 2014 Umbrella Movement to 2021

During the 2014 Umbrella Movement, HKUST students spray-painted the slogan 「希望在于人民，改变始于抗争」("Hope lies with the people, change begins with resistance") on a small campus path colloquially known as "Frog Path" (青蛙路). According to Dimsum Daily^※, the university planned to remove it the following year (2015) but was prevented by students; in the years after, the Union periodically repainted it.

At around 2:30 pm on 4 September 2021, the university finally removed the graffiti from "Frog Path." A university statement said: "To support the gradual resumption of in-person teaching, the university has been carrying out campus cleaning since the start of this year. As the university just resumed in-person classes on 1 September, campus cleaning will again be scheduled for today."

According to Dimsum Daily's report, the slogan stood, sprayed in 2014 and removed in 2021, for about seven years, repeatedly painted over and repainted in the interim, making it the longest-surviving piece of graffiti on campus. The university's cleaning explanation stands alongside some students' understanding that "a political slogan was erased" — this section states only the sourced timeline of the graffiti's persistence and removal and does not adjudicate either side's motives. The text of the slogan itself and its further related background fall within this site's sensitive-content routing and are listed only as source links in 〈2019-Related Items: Source Link Index〉; this article does not elaborate further.

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# VIII. The 2021 Vaccine Mandate Dispute

According to the English Wikipedia^※, on 5 June 2021, the Union posted on Instagram opposing the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, drawing a degree of public discussion. The university subsequently formally implemented a policy requiring students, staff, and regular visitors to show a vaccination record or proof of periodic testing to enter campus.

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# IX. After 2021: The Only Continuously Operating Students' Union Among the Eight

Students' unions at several Hong Kong universities have dissolved or suspended operations since 2021. According to a 2023 report by The Collective HK^※, the HKUST Students' Union did not dissolve or go "unmanned" (i.e., leave the executive positions unfilled) in this wave, and, as the political environment tightened, adjusted its direction, shifting toward a pragmatic approach to campus student affairs and reducing its public political confrontation posture.

Membership has fallen sharply: The Collective HK notes that Union membership fell from a peak of roughly 4,000 to about 1,000 over three years, and that the school stopped collecting dues on the Union's behalf around 2021.

Channels for reaching members have likewise shrunk: after the university stopped collecting dues on its behalf, the Union could only recruit members through an online form; according to The Collective HK, students' willingness to sign up on their own was low, and this, combined with the pandemic and a relocation of its premises, has made it "increasingly hard for the Union to reach students." In response to this condition of a "voice growing ever fainter," the Union has in recent years pursued other avenues of self-help — according to a March 2024 Ming Pao report^※, the Union launched an official website, attempting to rebuild ties with members in the absence of university-collected dues and with difficulty reaching new students. According to The Collective HK, the Union was at one point temporarily housed in a roughly 200-square-foot basement space on campus as its premises; the then President acknowledged that, without three years on campus, one might not even know where the Union's room was — a self-deprecating remark that speaks to the Union's increasingly marginal physical and symbolic position on campus (the full account of the premises changes and financial difficulties is in 〈Membership Fees and the Membership Crisis〉).

Space for expression has narrowed: after the Union's "Democracy Wall" introduced a requirement that posters give the poster's name and student number, it fell almost entirely out of use; the "big-character poster wall" is similarly moribund in practice. According to a 2023 report by The Collective HK, the executive committee that took office in March 2023 had ten members.

According to an April 2024 Ming Pao report^※ (original behind a paywall; summary reconstructed by cross-referencing multiple secondary sources), as of 2024 the HKUST Students' Union was still the only one of Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities' unions to have never gone unmanned, and the Union said it would focus on student welfare and hopes to attract more members to participate.

A recent picture of "remaining in place but hollowed out": it should be clarified that "never gone unmanned" refers to the fact that the executive committee has continued to have people willing to take it on, and that the Union continues to exist as a legal matter — it does not mean operations as usual. According to this site's compilation of public election notices and news reports, across the three consecutive annual elections of 2024–2026, the executive committee has repeatedly had only a single slate contesting, requiring "automatic election" by a threshold vote of "at least 14% of members voting in favour"; in 2026, one slate even had its nomination ruled invalid at the last moment. Popularly elected Council seats have repeatedly drawn no candidates or fallen short of quorum, and the Court, as the judicial organ, has remained suspended for nearly nine years since 2017, without resuming operation. The details of these symptoms are covered respectively in 〈The "Uncontested" Era of Elections〉 and 〈Membership Fees and the Membership Crisis〉. Taken together, the HKUST Students' Union presents a state of "surviving in a legal sense while gradually hollowed out in operational terms" — it is at once a rare example, among the eight universities, of a union that has "never gone unmanned," and a concrete illustration of "how a student self-governing body can be hollowed out."

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# X. Checked, Not Found / Not Applicable to This University (Explicitly Noted)

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# Related Reading

• 〈The "Uncontested" Era of HKUSTSU Elections〉 — the 2024–2026 election record across three cycles, the Court's suspension, and the Council's acting exercise of judicial functions.
• 〈Membership Fees and the Membership Crisis〉 — membership falling from roughly 4,000 to just over 1,000, the university's cessation of fee collection, deficits, and temporary premises.
• 〈"The Dean of Students Fled in the Night": The 2017 Hall Allocation Policy Dispute〉 — the fuller, multi-source account behind Section VI of this article.
• 〈Succession and Hazing Culture in Hall Student Associations〉 — leadership succession and conflict at the affiliated-society level.
• 〈Notes on University Governance and Reform〉 — the governance framework for institutional autonomy and public accountability.
• 〈Academic Freedom, Union Disciplinary Action, and Speech Controversies〉 — the student newspaper Wings and space for speech.

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