Yesterday, the governing board of Hong Kong University, one of the territory’s most esteemed institutions of higher education, voted to reject the promotion of Johannes Chan, a former law school dean, over the objections of the faculty and students who recommended him for a top administrative post. Chan specializes in constitutional law and his law school colleague Benny Tai was a leader of last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations. Chan’s supporters say the rejection was politically motivated, that those who voted against him were acting under the influence of China’s leaders in Beijing and that the move is a sign of the erosion of independence and academic freedom in Hong Kong. We asked participants in this Conversation to react to the news and to consider what it means about Hong Kong’s independence more broadly. —The Editors