Huang Zhenxiang, a scholar at Tsing University: Instead of each having his own say, it would be better for Tsing University to vote on whether Gao Weiyuan should stay or go.

Should Gao Weiyuan, the president of Tsinghua University, leave? Huang Zhenxiang, a scholar at Tsing University, believes that instead of continuing to have different opinions, it is better to let Tsing University vote on its own. (File photo, taken by reporter Hong Meixiu)

The controversy over the re-election of Tsing University President Gao Weiyuan and his move to the United States to find a job is still ongoing. Some academicians from Academia Sinica signed a petition calling on Gao Weiyuan to resign on his own initiative, while some Tsing University professors support Gao Weiyuan to continue to lead Tsinghua University. Tsing University scholar Huang Zhenxiang posted on Facebook that instead of continuing to speak his own words, it is better to let Tsinghua University vote on its own, believing that Tsinghua University has its own mechanisms and systems to handle and solve the problem.

Huang Zhenxiang believes that it has not gone as far as "President Gao Weiyuan must step down." However, shortly after Gao Weiyuan's renewal was confirmed, he went to the United States to participate in the final election for the president of the University of Hawaii. It was indeed a very serious error in judgment. Gao Weiyuan made this step very poorly, and it can even be said that he dug a big hole for himself. But it's one thing to make a mistake in judgment; it's another thing entirely whether it's serious enough to require immediate resignation. If today it was academic fraud, major financial fraud, denial of admission, cover-up of sexual assault, or governance failure that caused major damage, the judgment of responsibility would naturally be completely different. If we only look at the matter of "going to participate in the selection process of another school after being renewed", he still has no way to directly push it to the point where "there is no other way but to step down."

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Huang Zhenxiang said, now that things have evolved, how much trust does Gao Weiyuan have left to continue leading Tsinghua University? The cleanest way is probably to vote. According to Tsinghua's current "Organizational Regulations", those who truly have the power to approve the appointment, renewal and resignation of the president are professors and associate professors throughout the university. If formal resignation procedures are involved, there are also established thresholds for signatures, verification and secret voting, provided that "major reasons" are met. In other words, it’s not that Tsinghua doesn’t have tools. The rules have long been written there, but no one thought that one day they would really need to take them out and look at them.

He emphasized that he did not advocate that Gao Weiyuan must resign. But now the matter has turned from one person's error of judgment to a crisis of trust for the entire university. If the school still treats it as a mere public relations scandal and hopes that it will be diluted slowly over time, I am afraid it will only push the problem back. This dispute can no longer be decided by whose name is bigger and whose voice is louder. Since Tsinghua is a university that emphasizes rationality, system and autonomy, let Tsinghua people make their own decision.