Academic Freedom, Student Union Discipline, and Speech Controversies

# I. Student Union Disciplinary Case (2021)

# Background

In May 2020, the HKUST Students' Union held a memorial event marking six months since the death of an HKUST student who died in November 2019^※. The union also maintained related posted materials on campus and the "Hope lies in the resistance of the people, change begins with struggle" slogan on "Frog Road" (see "Campus Landmarks" in this module) during the same period.

# Disciplinary Actions

On 25 January 2021, HKUST announced disciplinary action against several student union officers^※:

The university also warned that further violations could lead to expulsion.

# Positions of the Parties

According to HKFP, the student union maintained that the memorial event fully complied with social-distancing rules^※, including temperature checks and hand sanitiser, and argued that the university's characterisation of the event as a pandemic-rule violation was, in substance, a suppression of freedom of expression.

Scholars at Risk included the case on its academic freedom watchlist^※, stating that the penalties amounted to retaliation against protected expression.

RTHK reported that the student union condemned the disciplinary decision^※ and issued a statement defending the legitimacy of the event.

# II. Pressure on Academic Freedom: Mr. Holz's Record

Mr. Carsten Holz, a professor of economics in HKUST's Division of Social Science, published two documents between 2021 and 2022 (both posted on his HKUST personal page) that document conditions for academic freedom in Hong Kong. The material concerning HKUST is as follows:

According to a citation in The Diplomat (January 2022)^※, Mr. Holz's original document^※ records:

• In summer 2021, two Division of Social Science colleagues who had been repeatedly named and criticised by state-aligned newspapers (Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, and others) "suddenly left their positions — or, put another way, departed." Mr. Holz's document does not name them, but states that the two left Hong Kong following the pressure.
• He traces back to 2015, recording that Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po directed 350 media attacks at a scholar at another Hong Kong university, which he states ultimately led to that scholar being blocked from a vice-presidency appointment there — despite a unanimous recommendation from the selection committee.

# III. The "Hope Lies in the People" Slogan (Frog Road)

The campus road leading to UG Hall I became known to students as "Frog Road" after someone spray-painted a large frog on its surface in 2014. During the 2019 protest wave, white-paint text reading "Hope lies in the resistance of the people, change begins with struggle" (a Cantonese-inflected phrase, roughly: "Hope lies in the resistance of the people") appeared on the road, becoming one of the most visible political expressions on campus.

According to a 4 September 2021 Dimsum Daily report, the slogan, after remaining for roughly two years, was removed by the university on that date^※, marking the end of this visual symbol.

# IV. Student Media: The Editorial Board

The HKUST Students' Union maintains an Editorial Board (EB), the official student media body responsible for publishing and managing student news content. The name "UST Connection" appears in some alumni and external-report contexts, but its exact status — publication title, section name, or an alternate name for the Editorial Board — cannot currently be independently confirmed by a standalone source.

Official contact channels for the Editorial Board:

• Institutional email: [email protected] (an institutional role account, not a personal mailbox)
• Facebook: 香港科技大學學生會編輯委員會 (HKUST Students' Union Editorial Board)

# V. HKUST's Student Union and the "Big Eight" Union Dissolution Wave

Following the implementation of the National Security Law in 2020, student unions at multiple Hong Kong universities were subsequently cut off by their host institutions or dissolved. According to an April 2022 report in The Diplomat^※, the Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Students' Union (CUHKSU) have both been dissolved, with CUHKSU formally announcing its dissolution in September 2021.

According to Wikipedia and available records of the HKUST Students' Union's operations^※, the HKUST Students' Union (HKUSTSU) has not been reported as dissolved or formally cut off by the university; its official webpage and social media accounts remain active, and it continues to operate within the post-HKFS landscape of student self-governance.

# VI. Campus Student Welfare Incident Records

The following are events reported in publicly available Hong Kong media coverage, archived here on the basis of those public sources, without embellishment or speculation.

# 2024 Campus Incidents (Dimsum Daily)

According to Dimsum Daily, two student fall incidents occurred on the HKUST campus in 2024^※, both involving male students, both of whom died following the incidents; one occurred on a campus pedestrian bridge, the other on a pedestrian bridge near an undergraduate residence hall area. The university activated a 24-hour counselling hotline and engaged the Student Affairs Office to provide emotional support.

Mental health resources:

• The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong 24-hour hotline: 2389 2222
• HKUST Counseling and Wellness Center: https://counsel.hkust.edu.hk/