Letter to Taiwan Ministry of Education

4/1/2004 7:13 AM
Subject: Regarding the case of the student involved in misconduct at
National Cheng Kung UniversityTo: moe
CC: Control Yuan ,
Vice-President Lu

Ministry of Education
Department of Higher Education

1 April 2004

Dear Ministry,

Despite several notices from the Ministry of Education to the current
administration at National Cheng Kung University to act on the case of
the student involved in misconduct, the university is still not
responding. This fits a pattern of defiance beginning with the current
president, Kao Chiang's defiance of a legal Ministry ruling of 8 January
2001, which the administration defied for more than two years; and, even
after complying, repeating accusations in that ruling as if that ruling
had no legal binding force.
This kind of lawlessness should not be tolerated at a national
university, assuming there is moral and legal regulation of national
universities in Taiwan. I again remind the Ministry that I am committed
to resolving these remaining issues in the case of my illegal dismissal,
including a full apology from the university, full back pay and
compensation, and an apology from the student involved in misconduct.
As I have advised in the past, I suggest you replace the current
administration at National Cheng Kung University with a law-abiding
administration that will restore moral and legal legitimacy to the
university. An administration should not be allowed to hijack the
reputation of a national university as this administration has done.
A national university does not belong to a handful of officials who
currently call themselves "administrators," but rather it belongs to the
Taiwan public, taxpaying citizens who have a right to regulated
schools. This means regulated according to both law and moral
principles. In law, a Final Appeal is final or there is no real law,
there are only "favors" given to an appellanat based on
"relationships." But the law is not a favor, it's a RIGHT. Concerning
moral principle, a student should not be allowed to go unpunished for
insulting and defaming a professor, and, indeed, obtain a part-time
position as a teacher after doing so.

Sincerely,

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