110 West 3rd Street
Room 218, New York
New York 10012
Telephone: (212) 992-8837
Facsimile: (212) 995-3664
Email: usasialaw@nyu.edu
Jerome A. Cohen
Professor Frank Upham
31 March 2011
Dear Professors,
I have had long-standing problems with human rights violations at
National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan.
In March 1999 I was illegally dismissed as Associate Professor at that
university. I was not even informed of accusations against me until
after the dismissal hearing, of which I was similarly uninformed.
When original accusations were contested by the NCKU Teachers Union, a
secret letter from a student was then circulated at so-called
oversight committees to insure my dismissal. (The chair refused to
inform me of the contents of the letter, which I discovered only when
I took the student to court several years later.)
The dismissal was canceled in December, 1999 but the university lawyer
argued that a foreign teacher was not protected by the Teachers Law,
which prevented dismissal except for misconduct. The courts and the
Ministry of Education rejected this claim later, but the lawyer's
claim undermined the legal right to benefit from a favorable appeal
ruling. Thus the appeal was a legal sham, presumably a dilatory tactic
to insure my visa would expire.
Under US law at least such actions would violate the principle of
estoppel. But from what I understand that principle does not exist in
Taiwan.
After numerous hearings that obstinately repeated discredited
accusations, I gave up expecting justice at the university and
appealed to the Ministry of Education in Taipei, which ruled in my
favor on 8 January 2001. However, Kao Chiang, the university
president, refused to honor that appeal for nearly two and a half
years, until May 2003. Instead the university filed a lawsuit,
claiming foreigners had no right to appeal, despite the fact the
university held numerous appeal hearings and attended the one in
Taipei, another violation of the estoppel principle.
In the meantime two university officials tried to extort my
resignation from the university, at half pay, or threatened to delay
the case indefinitely in the courts.
Even when the university finally reinstated me in May, 2003 it held
further hearings and imposed penalties, despite the Ministry ruling.
Those were also overturned by the Ministry of Education.
University officials were repeatedly warned by members of the Teachers
Union and Ministry of Education officials that their actions were
illegal (see attachments) but persisted in their misconduct. Yet apart
from retroactive salary, I received no compensation nor was the
university required to pay punitive damages. In addition, the
university has never apologized.
Court rulings were puzzling (see attached). The court imposed no
damages on the university nor even awarded me compensation for travel
expenses incurred repeatedly renewing my visa. The court argued there
was no need for me to have stayed in Taiwan to fight the case!
How can an appellant contest a case without being present to do so?
The university could have insisted on my presence at a meeting,
forcing my return, delayed the meeting, and so on in a cycle of
attrition that would both discourage and impoverish me. Besides, in
another case a Taiwan judge awarded child custody to a Taiwanese
mother on the basis the American father did not remain in Taiwan,
suggesting he had no paternal interest in the child! "Heads I win,
tails you lose."
Review committee members and the student who wrote the secret letter
were similarly found not liable for libel on the basis their false
accusations did not circulate outside the university. But all libel
statutes I know state an action constitutes libel if a single third
party hears a false accusation.
What can be done with this case? The Ministry of Education, despite
its ten warning letters to the university president (see attached) not
only did not punish him but approved him for another three-year term
as president. The Control Yuan has done nothing. The three major
English-language newspapers never publish my letters about the case,
despite many editorials about human rights violations in Mainland
China.
Taiwan has recently endorsed international human rights charters,
which insure remedy in human rights cases. But the way this case has
been handled at Ministry and judicial levels suggests human rights is
a nebulous concept here.
I'm concerned what my legal options are, not only in Taiwan but in
America, since I am an American citizen. National Cheng Kung
University has numerous academic exchanges with reputable US
universities. Are there US laws or university bylaws that prohibit
academic exchanges with a university that has a documented record of
human rights abuses? Are there media or human rights groups willing to
expose this case in the US, since those options are virtually
nonexistent in Taiwan? Presumably Taiwan's media and government are
more concerned with the rights of a Taiwan taekowondo athlete than
with those of an American professor.
I am not merely fighting an individual case, but I hope to insure
proper treatment of American faculty in the future. Thank you for
whatever advice you give.
Sincerely,
Richard de Canio
Tainan, Taiwan
(06) 237 8626
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