Ministry of Education
Dr. Huang J.T.
Minister of Education
22 February, 2002
Dear Minister Huang,
As a final message to the Ministry of Education, I feel compelled to say
that if the American government is willing to commit itself to do "whatever
it takes" to defend Taiwan, then it's not asking too much for the Taiwan
government to do "whatever it takes" to defend the rights and dignity of an
American citizen in Taiwan.
The fact that this case has already lasted many years is in itself a
scandal. The abuses committed by university officials in this case were not
minor, but major; and they were repeatedly committed, as if, as a
representative from the Ministry of Education claimed, "teachers in Taiwan
are above the laws." If teachers in Taiwan are above the laws, then why
have laws, or pretend to have them?
Please show me any other country in the world, with similar claims to
being a lawful society, where university officials can plan a dismissal
action based on secret letters, malicious rumors, and unproved accusations,
and convince a review committee of ALL its members (I think the number was
eighteen) to pass it. I am confident American school children of ten years
old, tutored in democratic principles, would not have passed that dismissal
action in a simulated case in a school classroom.
So we’re talking about either serious malicious misconduct or grievous
official negligence. (And NCKU officials repeatedly tell me that they don’t
know about the laws or care about them! At least one chairman told me this
and one university president.)
I respectfully advise that the Ministry of Education commence a
"hands-on" policy with the universities under its jurisdiction. Indeed, the
history of lax sanctions against negligent officials at National Cheng Kung
University doubtless led to an increasing sense of arrogance, defiance, and
assertion of independence, not only from Ministry regulations but from moral
principles, leading to the crisis the Ministry finds itself in this very
day.
I have documented proof of complaints against university officials that
go back about ten years and the Ministry of Education has historically
responded indifferently to these complaints, including forged (unaccredited)
student evaluations, lax promotional criteria, and even, from what I’ve been
told, forged signatures in order to open up a Research Institute at National
Cheng Kung University. (From what I’ve been told, several professors
complained personally to the Ministry of Education about this but the
Ministry did nothing.) In response to this very complaint, an official at
your Ministry replied, "teachers are considered above the laws in Taiwan."
(I have a witness to this conversation, if it comes to that.)
The Ministry of Education should learn from this case and more
effectively control its universities, especially National Cheng Kung
University. Indeed, a former president of this university told me, in
personal dialogue, that the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
was not initially an official department, and by the time it became one it
had developed "a lot of bad habits." As the present situation demonstrates,
those "bad habits" have yet to be remedied, instead infecting more organs of
government.
I myself have had previous problems with a former chairman of that
department, Ren Shyh-jong, who used unaccredited student evaluations to
discredit me in 1994. Professor Ren not only was never punished, but last
semester was appointed Dean of Academic Affairs!
Recently, I filed a formal complaint, in Chinese, against a National
Cheng Kung University student who wrote a secret, malicious, and libelous
letter against me in 1999, apparently as part of the university’s plan to
dismiss me. (Dean Tu Yung-Ching, then Dean of Academic Affairs, accepted
this secret letter. He himself has never been punished for his
misconduct.) Professor Ker, currently Dean of Student Affairs, has yet to
formally respond to my complaint or even show any sign that she has
investigated it. As a citizen of a democracy, the events related here
disgust me.
The question of how officials at National Cheng Kung University,
including a president appointed by the Ministry of Education, can face down
the same Ministry that regulates them and show scorn for both law and legal
principles, is, as a foreigner, quite beyond my understanding or even
belief. But what has happened over the last several years has totally
destroyed illusions I may have had about Taiwan laws, justice, democracy, or
the famous Confucian principle of reciprocity.
Furthermore, based on my own personal experience, most officials at
National Cheng Kung University seem to me to be without any sense of moral
responsibility, honor, law, justice, or even shame. They do what they must
do, not to enforce laws and moral principles, not to protect faculty and
students, but to protect themselves. (And this is at tax-payers’ expense!)
These may not be your values. But if you do not endorse those values, I
respectfully suggest you combat them. For in Law, silence is construed as a
sign of consent.
Sincerely,
Professor Richard de Canio.
(06) 237 8626
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