Letter to The China Times

10/16/2003 11:51 PM
Subject: Concerning the case at National Cheng Kung University in
TainanTo: louwei.chen@msa.hinet.net


c/o The China Times
Tainan

16 October 2003

Dear Ms. Chen,

I thank you for your interest in my case.
But since there are people supporting me, I must consider their
point of view too.
Yet these matters do not only concern me. They have
wider social importance:

1. A president of a university defied a Ministry ruling for
more than two years. Is this the kind of person who should head a
national university in Taiwan?

2. A university lawyer used taxpayers' money to contest a legal
Ministry ruling. Should he be employed by a national university at
taxpayers' expense?

3. Public universities should be run by laws, not lawyers. If the
Taiwan government wishes to improve education in Taiwan, laws must
do this, not lawyers. Democracy is a government of laws, not lawyers.
If a lawyer can say what laws mean, there is no purpose in laws. The end
is mischief and injustice. In America we say, "Democracy is a
government of laws, not men." Because men (and women) are not always
just; only laws are just. If a lawyer can say what laws mean, then
there are laws, but no Law.

4. Without Law, officials at our university can do what they
want, as in the case of the current Dean of Student Affairs, who refuses
to punish a student for misconduct. As a newspaper reporter, maybe with
a family member in college, you should be concerned that at National
Cheng Kung University a student became a part-time teacher and even
secretary in the president's office possibly only because she wrote a
secret letter accusing me, while more qualified students are still
looking for employment.
Of equal concern is that officials at our university do not do
the jobs they were appointed or elected to do, slowing the progress of
education in Taiwan. Talk about improving education in Taiwan means
nothing if officials are accountable only to themselves.
If a person can remain as president of a university in
Taiwan, after defying a legal Ministry ruling for more than two
years, this is a national scandal that should concern all Taiwan
citizens.
An American president, Thomas Jefferson said that a free press was
the basis of democracy. Not only for the sake of justice, but also for
the sake of Taiwan's democracy, I urge you to investigate these issues
and expose them when documented.

Sincerely,

Professor Richard de Canio
(06) 237 8626
(06) 2757575 (52235)