The office of a Singaporean assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong was vandalized after he told students not to use class presentations to broadcast political statements or risk getting a zero on the assignment.
The university has set up a “task force” after Tan Yong Chin, who is from the department of marketing, saw his office sprayed with graffiti following an email to students about the new grading policy last Friday. The email came after some of the students allegedly made a “political announcement” during a class presentation for a mock campaign involving American sneaker brand Vans.
Vans has recently found itself on the wrong side of Hong Kong’s protesters after censoring protest-related entries from a sneaker design competition. An image of Winnie the Pooh, widely used to mock Chinese president Xi Jinping, was also reportedly used in the presentation.
In his email to students, Tan wrote: “For any future presentations in class, if you use it as an opportunity to broadcast any political announcements or statements, the whole group will automatically get zero points for the presentation. We are here to learn. Do not bring your political agendas into the classroom.”
Following the email, vandals spray-painted the exterior of Tan’s office with slogans like “Hongkongers rebel,” and “You are here to teach. Do not bring your political agenda into assessment criteria,” images circulating on Chinese social media platform Weibo this week showed. It’s not clear when exactly the vandalism took place.
Tan relocated to Hong Kong this year and began his first academic post at the university in August, according to Singapore Management University, where he earned his PhD.
In an email to Coconuts Singapore, Tan did not elaborate on what the students said in their presentation, but insisted his message had been in reference to a “political announcement,” and not the students’ take on the mock Vans campaign or their use of Winnie the Pooh.
“I wish to clarify that the email in question was sent in response to a political announcement made during a class presentation, and had nothing to do with the Pooh image or Vans campaign,” he said.
“The university has set up a task force to look into this issue, and I trust that they will make a decision in the best interest of all students. I hope everyone can look beyond that email and understand my intention, which is to create a safe and conducive learning environment where students can focus on content that is relevant to the course.”
University students have often been at the frontlines of Hong Kong’s months-long protest movement — which was sparked by a now-scrapped extradition bill, but has widened into a call for broader political reforms — and disagreements over the protests have inevitably spilled onto campuses across the city.
Apart from spraying graffiti on Tan’s office, students also wrote to the head of the university citing the institution’s “commitment” to free speech and requesting that Tan’s new grading policy be struck down.
“Under the context of recent turmoil, it is understandable that teaching staff may be confused by students’ expressions and opinions. Still, that does not displace the professional responsibility that a teaching staff upholds,” a letter by the City University of Hong Kong Students’ Union reads.
Other students, meanwhile, have taken to social media to criticize Tan.
“He is naïve to think that brands can completely distance themselves from politics in the 21st century! As a teacher, you are responsible for preparing your students to understand the relationship between politics, economics and businesses, and how to navigate in an increasingly volatile, globalized and politicized environment, rather than burying your head in the sand,” one Isabella Chan wrote on the student Facebook page CityUSecrets.
“You have no right to suppress our freedom, especially in Hong Kong tertiary education,” wrote one Alison Chung.
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