Subject: Regarding outstanding problems in the Prof. Richard de Canio
caseTo: Kao Chiang
CC: moe
President's Office
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
cc: Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education
18 July 2003
Dear President Kao,
There seems to be a communication problem between us. Because so far I
have not received a response from your office suggesting you are aware of
the serious nature of the issues I've already related in previous emails.
Try to understand: Officials at our university conspired to effect my
dismissal. They solicited secret letters and circulated them. You and your
legal counsel defied the Ministry of Education for two years before
belatedly complying with the Ministry ruling of 8 January 2001.
Finally, although a student currently employed by our university wrote
a secret, spiteful and libelous letter accusing me of failing her unfairly
eight years before, she has yet to be punished by university officials.
Instead of cooperating with me to effect a just resolution of this case,
with minimal discipline against this student following an apology,
university officials seem to be helping the student to avoid any
responsibility for her actions, thus undermining a teacher's rights as well
as the moral reputation of our university. One would think a university
administration would cooperate with the teacher to enforce discipline rather
than cooperate with the student to avoid it.
Other issues must also be settled, such as a formal apology for the
harm to my reputation and full back pay, in addition to a formal
nullification of the meeting that undermined the legal rights and benefits
of the Ministry ruling of 8 January 2001.
Considering the well-documented history of human rights abuses at our
university, why do you think it is my responsibility to encourage your
resolution of these matters? A reputable university administration should
take the initiative in resolving these issues.
Confucius said, "A gentleman admits his mistakes." I believe a
gentleman should also forgive mistakes, following admission from offending
parties.
I am willing to do this, with no more than the compensation due me and
appropriate apologies, from the student as well as from the university
administration. Allowing this case to be further litigated or exposed will
only undermine the repuation of our university. At the same time, you
cannot reasonably expect me to wait months or years while our committees,
whose credibility has already been undermined by their handling of my case,
clarify basic principles of law that are evident to most other scholars in
the international community.
Sincerely,
Professor Richard de Canio
National Cheng Kung University
(06) 237 8626
No comments:
Post a Comment