A New Era Begins 1975-78

Addendum: An Interview with Dr. Choh-Ming L i on the Eve of His Retirement Q. As a member of the first Fulton Commission, which recommended the establishment of The Chinese University, did you have any inkling that you would be appointed the first Vice-Chancellor of the University? What was your reaction when you were offered the post? And what made you decide to accept the appointment? A. What I was invited to be a member of the Fulton Commission, the only member of Chinese descent, I was remotely concerned that I could be later drafted to be the first Vice-Chancellor. I had been very happy wi th the University of California at Berkeley and at the time was deeply involved in research projects out of which I was able to publish one book every one or two years. Therefore I insisted that another member of Chinese descent, particularly from the Commonwealth countries, be also invited to be a member of the Commission. As a result, Professor Thong Saw-pak of Malaysia was invited. When the Fulton Commission presented its Report, I did not sense any strong possibility that I would be invited to be the first Vice-Chancellor. When the post was offered to me, I declined and the negotiation went on for many months. What finally made me accept were: (1) the Hong Kong Government had decided to allocate the hills next to Chung Chi College to be the University site, instead of the original decision to locate the University at the valley below Shatin Heights, which is far away from Chung Chi College; (2) one of the three Foundation College Presidents flew in from Hong Kong to persuade me, on behalf of the three College Presidents, to accept the post; (3) the University of California, at the urging of London and Washington, agreed to give me an unusually long leave of absence of three years. Q. Then what made you stay on for fifteen years? A. Primarily the challenge of building up a new university in the latter half of the 20th century for the people. The understanding with the Hong Kong Government from the beginning that we would not be interfered with and that our academic autonomy would be completely respected convinced me that this tremendous challenge could be met. Then the warm support given by the community in the form of sincere encouragement and generous donations was another factor. And finally the growing pace of support among the teaching and administrative staff within the University as time went on, assured me that the challenge would be met. 97