Thursday, February 28, 2002

Letter from Dean of Student Affairs (28 February 2002)

Below is typical of the responses from university officials. The university acted on Lily Chen's defamatory letter immediately, though the student had no proof about a disputed grade eight years earlier (see other posts on my blog for an overview of the case); but when I want to file a legal (formal) complaint against the student all obstacles are placed in my path. Note typical phrases I'm familiar with in administrative handling of my case: "thoroughly discussed," and "law specialists" (presumably the same ones who advised defiance of a legal Ministry ruling for nearly two and a half years; who said "foreign" teachers were not protected by the Teachers Law; who held appeal hearings at the university then said "foreigners" had no right to appeal). It's so nice to read that "official meeetings" were called "many times i the past three months," when almost any other university in the world would have called the student into the office the day of the complaint! And there's that memorable phrase again, "according to the university administrative laws," presumably the same "university administrative laws" that said "foreigners" were not protected by the Teachers Law, that canceled a dismissal then returned the case to the department for "further evidence," and "according to" the same process that the current president, Dr. Hwung, and his Secretary-General, C. C. Chen, now claim, on the official NCKU web page (March, May 2011) was fully observed in my 1999 illegal dismissal in their Orwellian revisionist version of the dismissal. Then the final coup de grace, namely the university is waiting for the court to tell them what to do, the way that an editor of an English-language newspaper told me he was waiting for "further developments" in my case before publishing about it, as if thirteen years did not supply enough "further developments" in the case for a newspaper in a reputed democracy with a reputed "free press." As if that "coup de grace" was not enough I'm informed that the student who violated my rights has her rights, presumably a priority over my rights, since he's a citizen I'm not, and then an official of a university that violated all laws to dismiss me concludes with a rhetorical flourish about the necessity of acting "according to the university laws." I should add that Dr. Huei-Chen Ko later became an official with the Student Conduct Commission under the Ministry of Education (http://ph.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-passes-law-punish-sexual-bullying-111003233.html), despite my many letters complaining of her handling of the case! It's good to know that voices are heard in Taiwan. Presumably she's defending students in her new capacity with the same alacrity with which, as Dean of Student Affairs at NCKU, she defended the student who wrote a defamatory letter against me. Note the symbolic date in the Taiwan calendar, showing how far Taiwan has come since the original 2/28 incident.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Letter from Dean of Student Affairs regarding a Formal Complaint against Ms. A. C. Chen
February 28, 2002

Dear Dr. de Canio:

Your letter and facsimile message on November 21, 2000 and January 2, 2002,
respectively, proposing investigating the case regarding Ms. A. C. Chen,
doctorate student of Foreign Languages & Literature Department, had been
thoroughly discussed in the office. In responding to your request, I
appointed the Deputy Dean of Students as the chairman of the investigating
committee. This committee, consisting of university staff members related
to student affairs and law specialists, had called the official meetings
many times in the past three months to discuss the details of this case.
The following conclusion was made by the committee according to the
university administrative laws:

The university understands that you have initiated a lawsuit against Ms. A.
C. Chen and the case is being proceeded in the court at the moment.
According to the laws, no administrative decisions should be made upon any
students or staff members of this university while they are being involved
in any legal procedures until the lawsuit is closed in the court. Thus, the
Office of Student Affairs will make further judgement upon Ms. Chen
according to the university laws of awarding and punishing students after
the lawsuit is closed in the court.

Furthermore, the university is an educational institution, which also
assumes the responsibility of protecting the rights of its students**** and
staff members. Thus, proceeding this case regarding a student according to
the university laws is necessary.

Yours sincerely,

Huei-Chen Ko, Ph.D.
Dean of Office of Student Affairs

****MY FOOTNOTE: Apparently at National Cheng Kung University the student has "rights" when a teacher files a formal complaint against her but the teacher has no rights when the student writes a secret letter against him!

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