Letter to NCKU president, Kao Chiang

National Cheng Kung University
Professor Kao Chiang,
President's Office

24 June 2005

Dear President Kao,

As you know, the case of my illegal dismissal from National Cheng
Kung University is now in its seventh year. The university not only
illegally dismissed me in 1999, but has, under your administration,
repeated countless human rights violations since then, despite a
Ministry of Education appeal ruling in my favor.
You yourself, although president of a national university, refused
to honor a legal Ministry ruling for more than two years. You yourself,
though you are engaged in cultural exchanges with universities from
democracies such as America, where Taiwan citizens are protected by
laws, refuse to treat faculty here with the same respect for laws. On
the contrary, you seem to feel no sense of shame over having your
university lawyer argue in court that foreign faculty are not protected
by the same laws that protect native faculty.
Although this case is now in its seventh year, as I said above, and
despite countless Ministry and judicial rulings in my favor, your
administration continues to contest these matters in the courts and
continues (in defiance of universal human rights principles that benefit
Taiwan faculty living in democracies abroad) to deny human rights
protections to foreign faculty here.
Though this case is now in its seventh year, your administration
still refuses to issue a formal apology for its human rights abuses in
my case; your administration still contests legal benefits guaranteed to
all appellants in favorable appeal rulings; and your administration
still refuses to enforce penalties against a student, Chen An-chuen, who
maliciously defamed me before my dismissal in 1999.
I remind you that there is no compromise possible on these issues.
Under no circumstances can I permit this case to close with no formal
apology from the university or formal penalties against the
aforementioned student. Nor will I accept anything less than full
compensation, as guaranteed under appellate principles of law, as well
as human rights principles to which Taiwan subscribes.
I will continue to take all steps necessary to effect these just
goals, based in principles of law and human rights. Besides principles
of law and justice, I advise you to consider the long-term reputation of
our university, for which you are responsible. For under no
circumstances can you justify the conduct of officials at our university
during the illegal dismissal process, or your administration's judicial
defiance that followed the Ministry ruling in my favor. It is therefore
in the best interests of all parties concerned to resolve these matters
within the university, but also within principles of justice.

Sincerely,

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