Letter to Taiwan Ministry of Education

Ministry of Education
Department of Higher Education
Taipei, Taiwan

18 March 2004

Please understand that I cannot allow the case of legal
rights abuses at
National Cheng Kung University to go on much longer. It has
already
lasted into a fifth year.
Therefore, I am again asking all agencies in Taipei to make
a
serious effort to end this case, based on principles of law
and human
rights.
These laws and these principles insure a formal apology
from the
National Cheng Kung University administration; full
compensation and
back pay; formal punishment of the student who made false,
spiteful
accusations against me; and a formal annullment of the
university
decision to approve accusations against me already rejected
in the
Ministry ruling of 8 January 2001.
The president of National Cheng Kung University, Kao
Chiang, has
already ignored several letters from the Ministry of
Education advising
he handle the student case, just like he ignored a Ministry
of Education
Appeal ruling for more than two years. Why a public
official is allowed
to scorn the law like this without being punished is beyond
my
understanding, since Taiwan is supposed to be a lawful
democracy. Is
Taiwan a government of laws or of officials?
Regardless, I am committed to defending the rights and the
dignity
of American professors in Taiwan. I urge you again,
strongly, to put an
end to this case based on principles of law and human
rights.

Sincerely,

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