港大副校长｜申作军亲自澄清非中共党员　被列党委属清华网站疏忽

香港大学校委会今日（27日）下午召开会议，审议北京清华大学工业工程系主任申作军，以及清华地球系统科学系主任宫鹏的副校长任命事宜。至晚上8时许港大宣布，委任申作军教授为副校长（研究），宫鹏教授为副校长（学术发展）。其中申作军近日被质疑为中共党员，引起社会关注。据了解，申作军在今日的校委会会议上，透过声明澄清并非“党委”，在清华大学中的职位只是“名誉”性质，没有负责任何日常运作，更指相关问题是由于网站管理员疏忽（an oversight by the webmaster），他已立即联系清华大学，并纠正有关问题。港大校委会主席李国章就指，校委会对有关两位教授对其背景的澄清表示满意，认为所有指控皆不成立。

称每年只有数周在清华大学工作

根据港大资料，申作军现为加州大学柏克莱分校校长教授及工业工程及运筹学系系主任，以及土木与环境工程系教授。他同时出任清华大学名誉教授及工业工程系主任。然而近日被揭清华校网原显示申作军身兼该学系的“系党委”党委委员，校方却又突然删除其党委资讯，引来社会关注。

在今日港大校委会的会议上，申作军透过声明澄清并非“党委”。他称于清华大学毕业后，赴美升学，其后于加州大学柏克莱分校工作。然而因母亲健康状况恶化，故他每年夏天亦会返回中国照顾母亲。

而在中国的时候，则与清华大学合作，其后获清华大学邀请担任名誉教授和系主任，在获全职雇主加州大学柏克莱分校批准后，他于2014年起每年于清华大学工作数个星期，主要职责包括提供国际合作的建议，并保持积极、开放和自由的学习与研究环境，惟不包括部门的实际日常运作。

从港媒报道才得悉

申作军强调自己从来不是党委，亦没有成为党委的资格，他亦是自本港传媒报道后才得悉事件，令他感到震惊。他认为事件是有关网页的网站管理员疏忽，故立即联络清华大学，他们亦已纠正问题。

港大校委会主席李国章亦发表声明指，遴选工作经由全球物色适当的人选，审视和咨询过程详尽严谨，唯一的目的是为大学招揽最优秀的人才担任领导职务。三位获任命的教授，都是具国际声誉，在其学术领域表现卓越的优秀学者。

声明又称，由于近期就两位副校长人选的背景有诸多传闻和猜测，两位教授特意作出澄清，包括候任副校长（研究）申作军表明他不是共产党员，也不是党委成员。校委会对两位教授的澄清表示满意，认为所有指控皆不成立。

申作军自述全文：

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to clarify some possible misunderstanding about my employment history.

As you know, I am currently a full-time professor and chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley.  I am also an honorary professor and department chair at Tsinghua University.   The Chair at Berkeley is “real”, while the chair at Tsinghua is only an honorary one.  I am not the real boss at Tsinghua.  Let me explain further as to how this arrangement came about and works.

I graduated from Tsinghua in 1996.  I immediately went to my graduate study at Northwestern University in the US.  I got my PhD in 2000 and started my academic career at the University of Florida.  In 2004, I moved to UC Berkeley where I worked very hard and got my tenure in 2007.  I was promoted from associate professor to full professor in just 3 years, in 2010.  That year, the health of my 83 years old mom deteriorated, so I started to go back to China every summer to take care of her.

While in China, it was only natural for me to start collaborating with the IE department at Tsinghua University.  The department’s first head was a chair professor Dr. Gabriel Salvendy, who was a full-time professor at Purdue University when he was appointed.  When Dr. Salvendy stepped down, Tsinghua offered the position to me.  I sought approval from UC Berkeley, my full-time employer, and was granted permission to take on the honorary professorship and department chair at Tsinghua in 2014.  My honorary position at Tsinghua means that I only need to work there for a few weeks every year.  My main responsibilities include providing advice on international collaborations and maintaining an active, open, as well as free learning and research environment.  The actual day-to-day running of the department was, however, managed by the department’s local leadership, not me.

A standard process at Tsinghua was to assign the department chair to be on the party committee （党委）.  Not surprisingly, therefore, the secretary of the department automatically put my name on the party committee even though I am not a party member; I’ve never been one, and I am not qualified to be on the party committee （党委）.  Unfortunately, I did not know about this until the Hong Kong media reports revealed it last weekend.

I was shocked and stunned by the media reports… The truth, however, is that I am a US Citizen and I have obtained permission from Berkeley every year to work in Tsinghua.

Unfortunate as the mis-guided media reports may have been, they have allowed me to gain a better understanding of Hong Kong as well as your concerns.  There is absolutely nothing to hide and I am a strong believer in academic freedom.  Being a scholar, I am committed, like you, to upholding the truth, while respecting different views and opinions in society.

Although this incident has caused me a lot of stress, I don’t want to lay blame on anyone.  I only want you to get the facts and set the record straight.  Thank you for your time.’

申作军声明：

In the light of the recent news reports on my background, I would like to make a clarification as below.

I have been working full time at UC Berkeley starting from 2004 and my appointment in Tsinghua is only honorary with approval from Berkeley. Being the honorary department chair, I only spend a few weeks every year in Tsinghua and do not participate in the daily operations of the department. I am not a member of the Chinese Communist Party and I am also not in the party committee as claimed by the reports. It was an oversight by the webmaster of the respective website.

After I read the reports I immediately contacted Tsinghua and they have rectified all information about me on their websites. I later found out the error started several years ago when I, as the department chair, was mistakenly assigned to the party committee.

I hope this clarification can clear all misunderstandings between us.