Forward of letter sent to university faculty

Subject:
Forward of letter sent to university faculty
From:
Richard
Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:14:49 -0800
To:
scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu

12 March 2006

Dear Scholars at Risk,

The case at National Cheng Kung University that I reported to you several years ago has still not been resolved

according to international rights standards. There has been no complete compensation, no apology, no punishment

or even review of universitiy officials involved in this case, and the university continues to contest a legal Ministry

ruling, and the compensation that should follow, in the courts. As recently as several months ago NCKU faculty

simulated a legal hearing on the case to determine whether I should receive some of the compensation so far denied

me. At that meeting, I voiced a protest that the meeting was held at all, considering that legal Ministry rulings are

not subject to review or even approval by lower committees. Later I sent two emails to my university colleagues, one

of which was in bilingual form. Those letters produced no results, so I'm sending copies to you as well as to Taiwan

government agencies, Taiwan newspapers, and Taiwan human rights groups. Despite repeated contacts, only one

newspaper in Taiwan saw fit to expose this case: the Chinese-language daily, The China News. Otherwise, so far as I

know, I have received no assistance from human rights groups here; and one claimed it was "an administrative

matter." By that standard, all human rights violations are "administrative matters."
For Taiwan agencies to keep a lid on these issues is no way to solve them or to advance human rights. If it were,

the university would have learned its lesson by now. Clearly other tactics are needed.

Sincerely,

Richard de Canio
National Cheng Kung University
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
Tainan, Taiwan