"Give Me Back My Grandma": CUHK Social Science Faculty Under Fire for Demanding Grieving Student "Plan" Against Future Bereavements

HONG KONG — The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is facing a firestorm online after its Faculty of Social Science asked a bereaved student to explain how she would prevent her late course drop from "recurring in the future," despite the fact that she had already submitted a death certificate and a clinical psychologist's memo following the death of her grandmother.

The student, who goes by hid1ary on Threads, said she applied for a late drop of "In Dialogue with Humanity" (UGFH1000), a compulsory general education foundation course commonly known among students as "FH," after a death in the family left her unable to cope with her studies. Her post has since drawn over 100K views, 3.8K likes and 1.7K shares.

"Am I supposed to pick up a Death Note on the street?"

In her post, hid1ary did not hold back: "CUHK's so-called 'humanistic care' is a joke. My family member died, I late-dropped one FH course, I filed the death certificate and a CP memo, and now they're asking me for a 'plan to avoid the situation of course late drop recurring in the future.' Am I supposed to pick up a Death Note on the street and write down that none of my family members are allowed to die?"

The remark references the hit Japanese manga and anime series Death Note, in which writing a person's name in a supernatural notebook seals their fate. The student's bitter inversion of the premise, that only a magical notebook could stop her family from dying, struck a nerve across Hong Kong social media.

Inside the faculty's email

According to a screenshot of the email, sent by "Social Science CUHK - Teaching & Learning," the student was told to provide two items by today, 30 October 2026 (Friday):

• the reason(s) for applying late drop of this course but not the other courses

• your plan(s) to avoid the situation of course late drop recurring in the future

The message ends with a formulaic "Thank you" and "Best regards." Not a single word of condolence appears.

"Give me back my grandma"

In follow-up posts, hid1ary wrote: "Forget it. I won't just drop the course, I'll drop out of CUHK. Can you give me my grandma back?" and "How exactly was I supposed to predict my grandma would die?"

In another post she added: "Do they simply not know how to read the supporting documents? For a university that sells 'humanistic care,' this is disgraceful."

Netizens: Reply and CC the Dean

Thousands of netizens rallied behind her. One widely-liked comment offered two options: "1. Get your family to storm the faculty office and unload a lifetime of profanity at them, or 2. Reply to the email and CC the faculty office and whoever sits above them (probably the faculty dean, worth checking), ask whether the tone and wording of this email are appropriate, and demand an apology if they aren't." The comment closes with "If it were me, I'd pick 2," and has earned 1.3K likes.

Support Exists on Paper

CUHK does run counselling services: the Wellness and Counselling Centre (WACC) under the Office of Student Affairs offers free counselling and a 24-hour emotional support hotline, and the Faculty of Social Science lists "academic advising and counselling" resources on its own website. Support is not the problem.

The problem is what happens when a grieving student actually walks through the door. CUHK's official late-drop guidelines require applicants to state their reasons and upload supporting documents. Nowhere do they require students to explain how a family tragedy will be prevented from happening again. The faculty's demand goes beyond published procedure, turning a family bereavement into an administrative risk to be managed.

A death certificate and a clinical psychologist's memo were already on file. When death itself has been certified, what further proof could possibly suffice? Vetting applications and preventing abuse is legitimate administrative work. But applying that suspicion indiscriminately to every student, to the point of asking a genuinely grieving student to guarantee no one else in her family will die, is logic distorted to the point of cruelty.

Ranked 18th in the World, but for What?

The timing could hardly be more damning. In June 2026, CUHK climbed 14 places to a record-high 18th in the QS World University Rankings 2027, breaking into the global top 20 for the first time in its history. In the university's own announcement, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Lo said CUHK is committed to nurturing leaders with "a sense of social responsibility."

The Faculty of Social Science is no academic backwater either: CUHK Sociology was ranked 18th globally in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025, Communication and Media Studies sits 16th worldwide and first in Hong Kong in the 2026 subject rankings, and the university's broad social sciences and management category holds a place in the global top 50.

But QS measures academic reputation, employer reputation, research output and internationalisation. No indicator measures whether a faculty office treats a grieving student as a human being. If this is how a top-ranked social science faculty responds to bereavement, with a compliance checklist and a demand for a "prevention plan" against death itself, the question writes itself: is this the quality and standard the world expects of a QS top-20 university?

Procedure Above People?

A death certificate is the strongest proof a student can offer. Demanding a written "plan" to ensure no more family members die is not procedure.

It is a second injury inflicted on someone already grieving.

The Once Times has reached out to the CUHK Faculty of Social Science for comment and had received no response at the time of publication.

#CUHK #TheChineseUniversityofHongKong #LateDrop #FacultyOfSocialScience #QSRankings #DeathNote #Threads #HongKong #HigherEducation #StudentMentalHealth