Organisational History of the CityU Students' Union and the 2015 Withdrawal from the HKFS

City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) Comprehensive Information Database · Student Movements Module

Reading note (unofficial-history section): This article belongs to the student movements module and is compiled to an evidentiary standard; facts from 2022 and earlier that have been widely reported are corroborated by multiple sources. This module does not narrate specific on-campus actions during the 2019 social events; entries related to Hong Kong independence or unrest are listed in the module's README link directory.

This article focuses on the organisational history of the CityU Students' Union. For the fuller timeline of student publications, the Democracy Wall, and campus-speech history, see the companion piece CityU Student Publications and the History of Campus Speech.

In May 2015, a nine-day referendum on the CityU campus concluded its vote count: 76.1% of participants voted in favour of withdrawing from the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) — the highest approval rate among the five institutions that held referendums that year. Seven years later, another document again reshaped the contours of student self-governance at CityU: the university asked the students' union to hand over sixteen years of audit reports within two weeks, or be required to vacate its on-campus premises. These two moments — one concerning an external alliance, the other concerning an on-campus foothold — together outline the two most pivotal turning points in the organisational history of the CityU Students' Union.

# Founding of the CityU Students' Union (1986)

The City University of Hong Kong Students' Union (hereafter "the CityU Students' Union" or "SU") was formally established in January 1986^※. Its predecessor institution — the Hong Kong City Polytechnic — was founded in 1984; the union's founding, about two years after the institution's establishment, made it one of the newer student organisations among Hong Kong's tertiary institutions at the time.

CityU is an institution founded in 1984^※; compared with longer-established institutions such as the University of Hong Kong (1911) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1963), its record of student activism is comparatively shallow, and the documentary record for certain periods is comparatively thin. This module reflects that characteristic as it stands.

# Joining the Hong Kong Federation of Students

The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS; hereafter "the Federation") was founded by the student unions of four institutions in May 1958^※, and is the longest-running inter-institutional student organisation in Hong Kong history. The CityU Students' Union joined the Federation not long after its own founding, becoming one of its member unions.

The Federation played a significant role in the history of Hong Kong's student movement, particularly during the 1989 show of support for the Beijing pro-democracy movement^※ and the 2014 Umbrella Movement^※. The CityU Students' Union, as a Federation member, took part in collective actions during these periods alongside the Federation, but independent documentary records of the CityU Students' Union's specific role in each period are currently scarce; this archive can only cite the broad framework of participation, and does not pad the account with specific narrative unsupported by documented sources.

# The 2015 Referendum on Withdrawal from the Federation

# Background: the wave of withdrawals after the 2014 Umbrella Movement

In 2014^※, the Federation took part in organising the prolonged Umbrella Movement. Afterward, some commentators criticised the Federation's leadership during the movement as failing to adequately represent Hong Kong-first priorities, and the Federation's charter still contained an objective of "building a democratic China," prompting some students to question the Federation's positioning.

From early 2015^※, the HKU Students' Union and other institutions began holding referendums on withdrawal from the Federation in succession, forming a wave of withdrawals.

# The CityU Students' Union referendum (April–May 2015)

The CityU Students' Union held a referendum on withdrawal from the Federation from 28 April to 6 May 2015^※, with the following results:

Reportedly, this approval rate was the highest among the five institutions that held referendums that year^※. According to an RFA Mandarin report (7 May 2015)^※, following the referendum's passage the CityU Students' Union formally announced its withdrawal from the Federation.

# Other institutions that withdrew in the same period

Other institutions that held and passed withdrawal referendums the same year included the HKU Students' Union (February 2015), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (April), and Hong Kong Baptist University (April)^※; only Lingnan University's students' union voted to remain. This wave of withdrawals reduced the Federation's membership from eight institutions to four^※.

# 2022: A Change in the Relationship Between the University and the Students' Union

# The audit-report request and the premises deadline

On 26 January 2022^※, CityU's Student Development Services wrote to the Students' Union asking it to submit sixteen years of audit reports, covering 2005 to 2020^※, within two weeks, or face action.

On 7 February 2022^※, CityU notified the Students' Union that it must vacate and return its on-campus premises within 7 days, citing the union's failure to submit the requested audit reports within the deadline.

# The farewell ceremony and relocation

On 14 February 2022^※, the Students' Union held a farewell ceremony before vacating its on-campus premises. For the sticky notes posted at the Democracy Wall during the ceremony and the subsequent investigation by the national security unit, see the companion piece CityU Student Publications and the History of Campus Speech.

Around 16 February 2022^※, according to HKFP, the Students' Union said it would "resist till the end" and would seek to continue operating from an off-campus location.

# Students called to account

In April 2022^※, according to HKFP, CityU asked certain students to explain alleged offences at the farewell ceremony. The university did not publicly disclose specifics.

# The gathering-ban fine incident

In September 2022^※, several CityU Students' Union members were each fined HK$7,000^※ for violating the then-gathering ban while taking a group photo^※. This gathering ban was one of the Hong Kong government's COVID-19 pandemic-control measures and was not directed specifically at student organisations.

# The Hong Kong Federation of Students Disbands in 2026

On 5 February 2026^※, the Federation's standing committee voted to pass a motion to disband, ending 68 years^※ of operation. In its statement, the Federation noted that "circumstances have kept changing, and members and allies have faced increasingly severe pressure in recent years." By the time of disbandment, the only remaining active member union was Lingnan University's students' union^※ (the CityU Students' Union had withdrawn in 2015, more than a decade before the Federation's disbandment).

# The Differing Nature of the Two Key Moments

The 2015 withdrawal from the Federation and the 2022 relocation from campus premises occurred in different political environments and institutional contexts, and should not simply be written as a continuation of the same event — but both point to the relationship between student organisations and external politics, university governance, and questions of representation. The core of 2015 was how the Students' Union defined its relationship with the Federation — a choice about external-alliance direction; the core of 2022 was whether the Students' Union could retain on-campus space, finances, and a service base — a question of the organisation's conditions for survival. Placing the two in the same account is not meant to construct a single causal line, but to let readers see two turning points of different character — yet equally pivotal — in the history of CityU student self-governance.

Student publications and editorial boards served as chroniclers of this history — see the companion piece's account of the Democracy Wall, the editorial board, and the arrest cases involving student journalists. Public archives are, unfortunately, incomplete; this article would rather say less than fill missing years with speculation.

# Summary

The organisational history of the CityU Students' Union traces a clear but thinly documented line: founded in 1986^※, it joined the Federation and took part in the broad framework of Hong Kong's student movement from the 1980s to the 2010s (with weak individual records); in 2015 it withdrew from the Federation on a 76.1% referendum result^※, among the highest approval rates in that year's wave of withdrawals; in 2022^※ it was required to relocate from campus over the audit-report dispute, and has since operated off-campus.

As an institution founded only in 1984, CityU's overall history of student activism is comparatively thin, particularly in the documentary record of the 1980s–1990s. This archive presents this as it stands and does not fill gaps with speculation; if archives of past student publications, editorial-board directories, or students' union annual reports come to light, they will be added to this series in due course.

Division of labour with Module 20 (Student Power and Affiliated Societies Ecology): this article focuses on history and timeline, while Module 20 explains the current structure of student organisations. Readers wishing to see the current student-organisation landscape should consult Module 20; readers wishing to see the historical turning points of the Students' Union, the Federation, the withdrawal, and the premises episode should consult this article.