AP News, March 21st, 2007
A dean at one of China's most prestigious universities has been fired after criticizing the school's administration on his blog.
Zhang Ming, dean of political sciences at Renmin University in Beijing, was removed from his position but will remain a professor, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Monday.
Li Jingzhi, head of the School of International Relations, which oversees Zhang's department, confirmed that Zhang was no longer dean in a letter posted Tuesday on the school's Web site.
He said what Zhang wrote in his blog was untrue and that he should "reflect on the lies he told."
In a March 12 posting, Zhang said he was going to be removed from his position because he annoyed Li by persistently speaking in support of professorship for a colleague who he felt had been wronged by a review panel. Zhang also said in his posting that he was likely in trouble because he told the media last year that the university had withheld subsidies for graduate students.
"I was punished for breaking the hidden rules," Zhang was quoted as saying by the Southern Metropolis Daily.
Zhang said his case highlights the bureaucracy and political interference in academic life, an issue he complained about in the interview.
"Universities have become officialdoms," he was quoted as saying. "All administrative staff become officials and teachers have no power in electing deans."
"All the positions are appointed by higher authorities," Zhang said. "Academic assessments are carried out by judging your official rank instead of academic achievements."
But Li dismissed Zhang's claims. "One should speak on the basis of truth, otherwise he will lose the respect of the students and colleagues," Li wrote.
