With the threat of potential libel cases at the Chinese University, people are increasingly concerned about how heavy the pressure is on student publications _ and whether students are restrained from speaking up.
"In fact, most students do not use the student press as a channel to express their opinions," said Mr. Chan Wing Hang of the Undergraduate of the University of Hong Kong. "Though most of them are concerned with school affairs, they like to speak of them privately.
"Most students take a neutral attitude towards school affairs. Worse still, they even keep silent on them sometimes.
"When compared to the students in the '70s and early '80s, the undergraduates nowadays do not dare speak out about what they want from society, " Mr. Chan said.
To Mr. Chan, there is no pressure from the University: "In fact, the school authority does not apply any pressure on the press.
"The constraints of student press are imposed by ourselves rather than others since we do not have to depend on the circulation for running cost.
"A more influential factor is that the editors also need to study. We cannot commit ourselves fully to the press."
Wings is the student press of the University of Science and Technology. Miss Chow Ying, its chief editor, said that it was the students' preference that drives the publication to provide only entertainment news on campus.
Said Miss Chow: "Because students are busy with a heavy workload, the student press should provide some interesting things such as news about technology to let fellow schoolmates relax.
"So, hard news like school policies and social affairs are not our focus."
Yet, they still face difficulties when they occasionally want more in-depth reports.
Miss Chow said that the school bureaucracy does not give them first hand materials, and there is a confidentiality rule against information access, so they need to get information through other channels.
This problem is best reflected in the elections of vice-chancellors on a couple of the other campuses.
The situation at the University of Hong Kong grasped public attention in February because it revealed conflicts between school authorities and students over the confidentiality of candidates.
Mr.Chan said, "The confidentiality about the candidates is not justified since the vice-chancellor is the head of the university, and his fame is somewhat similar to that of a legislative councillor.
"Students are the main reservoir of a university. They should have the right to know who will be their vice-chancellor."
The same goes for the Chinese University. Students there are only informed that there is going to be an appointment of a new vice-chancellor and the names of the final candidates. Details are not disclosed.
Miss Chan Kwong Wai, editor of the Student Press at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, "Mostly, in facing conflicting issues about the affairs of the campus, the school authorities keep silent or even simply put aside the issues.
"They always have their excuses such as 'the case under investigation' or 'this is confidential information' to prevent students from learning more of the truth. Our job, therefore, is to explore the information relevant to the students.
"What we are reporting are facts; therefore, we are not afraid of any pressure from the authorities," said Miss Chan. "We use the press to explore school policies and reveal a whole picture to all students. We take a role as an observer, fact-finder and informer of the campus. This is our job."
All three student presses claim that they work on behalf of students, and no school authorities have ever exploited them to advertise their own thinking. In fact, school authorities have their own official presses to express their opinions to the students.
Mrs. Chow Chan Man Yuen, director of Student Affairs of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, "The school authorities do not interfere or dictate student activities. Otherwise, the educational purposes would be diminished. We only give advice and opinions if they are too vigorous."
Though the authorities do not actively interfere or even prohibit the vigorous expressions of the press, Mr. Lo Ming Sum, former chief editor of the Student Press at the Chinese University, said, "Even if they want to interfere, they dare not do so since we are independent from them. However, they can make use of other methods to interfere, such as having their own announcements instead."
Managing a student press is no easy task. Mr. Lo said, "The hardship of running a student press is not the workload. How to deal with the questions and cases about the school affairs is the main problem. Sometimes we do not know how to balance reports between school policies and student welfare."
Such are the hardships of student press staff. But it is the opportunity to share their views on affairs they are concerned with, and their in-depth and sincere discussions about life, that reward the members for their work.
The University of Hong Kong's Mr. Chan Wing Hang said, "There are not enough undergraduate students willing to be involved in the press. Moreover, lack of fund is another prominent problems. Also, the lack of an interactive atmostphere on the campus towards the student press serves as a source of dissatisfaction."
Said Miss Chan of the Student Press of The Chinese University :
"We hope that one day, students on campus can express their opinions with no worry about the power of the school authorities at all. This is our aim and hope. We want to bring this message to the students."