Letter to Scholars at Risk

14 August 2000

Dear Scholars at Risk:

Your address was forwarded to me by a Chinese colleague, since he
thought you might be helpful in responding to the discriminatory abuses
against foreign, mostly American, professors in Taiwan, specifically in
the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Cheng
Kung University, in Tainan.
I can send you more detailed complaints (in both Chinese and
English) if necessary or requested to do so.
There have been long-standing abuses against American professors
at National Cheng Kung University.
More recently, in summary, the university has been allowed to
slander and libel at least one American professor with impunity.
In all cases, the professor was never notified of accusations
against him; nor was he allowed to defend himself. Later,
following protests from Chinese faculty, he was allowed a belated
and perfunctory statement at several meetings. Accusations against
the professor were never proven and most are mere innuendo. In all
the accusations, the professor was not notified until after they were
used against him or else was notified by friendly colleagues who
informed him of them unofficially!
These accusations were then used to terminate the professor's position
at the university, despite the apparent protection of the so-called
Teacher's
Law and Ministry of Education regulations that state that all
accusations must be properly investigated and proven.
To get around the protection of the Teacher's Law, which guarantees
legal protections to Taiwan teachers, the university
has claimed that, as a foreign teacher, the professor is not protected
by the same rights as Taiwan teachers.
This is not only legally, but morally, absurd. A representative of
Taiwan's Administrative Court remarked (if unofficially) that this is
legally absurd, since there is only one law in democratic countries.
Finally, even if this were the case, this would not mean that the
teacher has no HUMAN RIGHTS at all, including the right to defend
himself against slander and libel!
The Faculty Union of the university, as well as the national
Teachers' Union of Taiwan has protested this treatment. A campus lawyer

on university law also can't understand how the law could be used in the

discriminatory way that it has been used.
Yet, the Ministry of Education has played the fence on this issue
for more than a year, issuing very vague statements about "following the

laws," but never really committing themselves to a moral position or
enforcing laws at the university, which is, of course, precisely their
obligation.
The result is academic and moral chaos, which can be FULLY
SUBSTANTIATED by native colleagues in sympathy with human rights as well

as moral and academic standards.
The policy seems to delay the entire process of appeals (which has
already gone on for more than a year) for so long that the plaintiff
will be forced to leave the country and give up his appeal. Such a
policy is morally reprehensible.
For further information, please contact Taiwan professors, including


Sincerely,
Professor Richard de Canio.