---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard John <rdca25@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 3:26 AM
Subject: An appeal to uphold international human rights protections for American professors in Taiwan
To: scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
Cc: barbara.snyder@case.edu, coeinfo@u.washington.edu, chancellor@usg.edu, trustees@auburn.edu, jgogue@auburn.edu, drice@siu.edu, engineeradmin@tamu.edu, Dan_Jones@tamu-commerce.edu, hultin@poly.edu, Board.Trustees@uc.edu, president@uc.edu, dbennett@ucsd.edu, president@temple.edu, president@tamu.edu, president@po.utexas.edu, techpres@ttu.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, Deb.Ackerman@asu.edu, kchriste@berkeley.edu, ua.president@alaska.edu, sybor@alaska.edu, presofc@colostate.edu, peacockke@appstate.edu, sga@uh.edu, info@twc.edu, glmathisen@central.uh.edu, rob.watts@usg.edu, trustees@purdue.edu, president@purdue.edu
To Scholars at Risk
New York, N.Y.
cc: American universities that may maintain academic exchanges with National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan
10 October 2010
Dear Colleagues,
In view of your university's academic exchanges with National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, and as an American professor who taught at that university for 22 years, I think it imperative that you be informed of a history of human rights abuses committed by officials here (see attached jpeg file for partial evidence).
In 1999 I was illegally dismissed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. A secret letter was circulated claiming, without proof, I failed a student eight years before!
Though that first dismissal was canceled on university appeal, I was told I had to appeal again, since, as a "foreigner," I was not protected by Taiwan's Teacher's Law. (These are the same professors who benefit from human rights when they matriculate or teach abroad.) In other words, the only benefit an American professor has if he wins an appeal is the right to appeal again!
Fortunately my dismissal was overturned by Taiwan's Ministry of Education in an appeal ruling dated 8 January 2001. However, despite the fact that the university held appeal hearings of its own and attended those in Taipei, the university now claimed that as a "foreigner" I had no right to appeal in the first place.
For nearly two and a half years, despite eight warning letters from the Ministry of Education, the university refused to enforce that ruling. In the meantime it contested the ruling in the courts and, at an official meeting, threatened indefinite delays through court appeals if I didn't resign!
Even after the university complied, in May 2003, it continued to hold "hearings" on my case and imposed penalties, as if I never won an appeal. Those penalties were overturned by the Ministry of Education.
The university never compensated me for economic losses I incurred fighting the case and the courts never awarded punitive damages. In fact the university even contested my right to a retroactive salary!
To the present day, university officials have refused to compensate me (apart from the retroactive salary), apologize for human rights violations, punish officials involved in misconduct (including the circulation of a secret letter), or even admit human rights violations.
These professors and their children benefit from human rights protections abroad. These same professors espouse democracy when they present at international conferences or write journal articles condemning Mainland China.
Moreover, their university benefits from academic exchanges with American universities established on human rights principles. Yet despite a three-tiered appeal process, and numerous appeal hearings, not a single committee had the integrity to cancel a dismissal that involved so many human rights abuses that the Ministry of Education Appeal ruling bold-faced them in its ruling. Apparently their priority was to cover for officials involved in misconduct instead of effecting administrative remedy of that misconduct. In fact, these committees stubbornly repeated its dismissal action, often for the same reasons, even after the Ministry ruling warned of human rights violations involved in the first dismissal action.
Quite frankly, as an American citizen and an American professor, I don't think an American university should maintain academic exchanges with such a university. Presumably academic exchanges should be based on observance of human rights principles and mutual respect.
An American university that continues exchanges with such a university will compromise its own integrity as an academic institution once these issues are exposed. Moreover, taking a firm stand on behalf of these issues now will protect American (and other foreign) professors in Taiwan in the future.
I strongly urge you to do the right thing, however inconvenient it may be to do so. At the very least, American exchange universities can impose a probationary status on National Cheng Kung University until its human rights violations are remedied according to international principles of human rights, which Taiwan's president recently endorsed.
Sincerely,
Richard de Canio,
(Formerly) Associate Professor (retired)
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
From: Richard John <rdca25@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 3:26 AM
Subject: An appeal to uphold international human rights protections for American professors in Taiwan
To: scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
Cc: barbara.snyder@case.edu, coeinfo@u.washington.edu, chancellor@usg.edu, trustees@auburn.edu, jgogue@auburn.edu, drice@siu.edu, engineeradmin@tamu.edu, Dan_Jones@tamu-commerce.edu, hultin@poly.edu, Board.Trustees@uc.edu, president@uc.edu, dbennett@ucsd.edu, president@temple.edu, president@tamu.edu, president@po.utexas.edu, techpres@ttu.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, Deb.Ackerman@asu.edu, kchriste@berkeley.edu, ua.president@alaska.edu, sybor@alaska.edu, presofc@colostate.edu, peacockke@appstate.edu, sga@uh.edu, info@twc.edu, glmathisen@central.uh.edu, rob.watts@usg.edu, trustees@purdue.edu, president@purdue.edu
To Scholars at Risk
New York, N.Y.
cc: American universities that may maintain academic exchanges with National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan
10 October 2010
Dear Colleagues,
In view of your university's academic exchanges with National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, and as an American professor who taught at that university for 22 years, I think it imperative that you be informed of a history of human rights abuses committed by officials here (see attached jpeg file for partial evidence).
In 1999 I was illegally dismissed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. A secret letter was circulated claiming, without proof, I failed a student eight years before!
Though that first dismissal was canceled on university appeal, I was told I had to appeal again, since, as a "foreigner," I was not protected by Taiwan's Teacher's Law. (These are the same professors who benefit from human rights when they matriculate or teach abroad.) In other words, the only benefit an American professor has if he wins an appeal is the right to appeal again!
Fortunately my dismissal was overturned by Taiwan's Ministry of Education in an appeal ruling dated 8 January 2001. However, despite the fact that the university held appeal hearings of its own and attended those in Taipei, the university now claimed that as a "foreigner" I had no right to appeal in the first place.
For nearly two and a half years, despite eight warning letters from the Ministry of Education, the university refused to enforce that ruling. In the meantime it contested the ruling in the courts and, at an official meeting, threatened indefinite delays through court appeals if I didn't resign!
Even after the university complied, in May 2003, it continued to hold "hearings" on my case and imposed penalties, as if I never won an appeal. Those penalties were overturned by the Ministry of Education.
The university never compensated me for economic losses I incurred fighting the case and the courts never awarded punitive damages. In fact the university even contested my right to a retroactive salary!
To the present day, university officials have refused to compensate me (apart from the retroactive salary), apologize for human rights violations, punish officials involved in misconduct (including the circulation of a secret letter), or even admit human rights violations.
These professors and their children benefit from human rights protections abroad. These same professors espouse democracy when they present at international conferences or write journal articles condemning Mainland China.
Moreover, their university benefits from academic exchanges with American universities established on human rights principles. Yet despite a three-tiered appeal process, and numerous appeal hearings, not a single committee had the integrity to cancel a dismissal that involved so many human rights abuses that the Ministry of Education Appeal ruling bold-faced them in its ruling. Apparently their priority was to cover for officials involved in misconduct instead of effecting administrative remedy of that misconduct. In fact, these committees stubbornly repeated its dismissal action, often for the same reasons, even after the Ministry ruling warned of human rights violations involved in the first dismissal action.
Quite frankly, as an American citizen and an American professor, I don't think an American university should maintain academic exchanges with such a university. Presumably academic exchanges should be based on observance of human rights principles and mutual respect.
An American university that continues exchanges with such a university will compromise its own integrity as an academic institution once these issues are exposed. Moreover, taking a firm stand on behalf of these issues now will protect American (and other foreign) professors in Taiwan in the future.
I strongly urge you to do the right thing, however inconvenient it may be to do so. At the very least, American exchange universities can impose a probationary status on National Cheng Kung University until its human rights violations are remedied according to international principles of human rights, which Taiwan's president recently endorsed.
Sincerely,
Richard de Canio,
(Formerly) Associate Professor (retired)
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
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