Letter to Dean of Student Affairs (9 September 2003)

Letter to Dean of Student Affairs
From:


From:
9/30/2003 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: Please arrange a meeting between me and the student involved in
misconduct by the end of next weekTo: mengli_2
CC: em50000@email.ncku.edu.tw, higher@mail.moe.gov.tw

Professor Ko Huei-chen
Office of Student Affairs

30 September 2003

Dear Dean Ko,

Thanks for your response to my last email.
You refer to your belief that "punishment and blame" are not the best
way to handle this case. I fully agree with you. Compassion and
forgiveness are wonderful virtues ("to forgive [is] divine").
But somewhere we differ. You believe this student should be forgiven
without even admitting she did anything wrong. I believe forgiveness can
only follow a sincere admission of wrongdoing. The great religions believe
this too.
Our student did not commit her offense once but several times (and I
have proof of this). Each time I challenged her, she backed down; until she
had the chance to repeat her accusation in secret and at a time when she
thought I was unable to contest it.
There are several issues to consider in Lily's case:
First, she repeated her malicious accusations many times.
Second, her accusations resulted in my dismissal from the university or
contributed to that dismissal.
Third, she has never shown a sense of shame over what she did; in fact
she repeated her accusations in court and, only recently, to your former
vice-dean (which belies the claim she was not a student when she made her
accusation).
Fourth, her accusation may be related to her employment at our
university, which makes it more serious. Many graduates of our and other
universities would love to receive similar employment, based on merit. But
our student may have received special treatment because of her letter.
Fifth, as you know, she was for a while employed in the president's
office, which also suggests a relationship between her letter and her
employment, as if it was a reward for her letter.
Whether this can be proved is another issue. But most reasonable
people would at least suspect a relationship between this student's letter
and benefits she enjoyed at our university. If based in fact, her letter
not only harmed me, but graduates who otherwise might have been hired, on
merit, instead of her.
To believe that this student can become a better person if we simply
ignore her misconduct is not only wrong, but, I would say, seriously wrong.
And I don't think many people would agree with you on this issue. Clearly a
person involved in wrongdoing should be taught right and wrong, even if she
is not punished.
And this is a point you have repeatedly ignored about my request. I
have never asked for Lily's dismissal or even serious punishment. But I do
want a formal warning to the student for her misconduct. This is my right,
considering the harm this student did as well as the strong proof that she
did not act in sincere belief she failed unjustly.
Finally, as I've repeatedly said, this student has a better chance to
resolve this case as quietly as possible, within the university, than with
publicity outside the university. This is something that even she should
understand.
So I would appreciate a supervised appointment with this student.
Indeed, if she were telling the truth, she would appreciate this too.
I also appreciate your willingness to set up such a meeting and, with
advance notice, will accept almost any time that I'm not teaching classes.

Sincerely,

Professor Richard de Canio
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
2757575-52235
237 8626

Letter to Dean of Student Affairs (16 September 2003)

Letter to Dean of Student Affairs
9/16/2003 11:07 AM
Subject: Concerning the Lily Chen
matterTo: Huei-chen Ko
CC: moe ,
Kao Chiang
BCC: Ray Dah-tong ,
Paul

Dean Ko Huei-chen
Dean of Student Affairs
Office of Student Affairs
National Cheng Kung University

cc: Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Professor Kao
Chiang, President National Cheng Kung University

Dear Dean Ko,

Let me remind you again that the matter of the student who wrote a
secret letter complaining of a grade eight years after she received it has
not been properly or formally resolved.
I have waited two years for your office to handle this case. I have
been given every excuse why this student has not been called in, such as a
court case is pending or the student was not a student when she wrote her
letter or your office is "collecting evidence" (evidence for a murder trial
is "collected" in quicker time) or (absurd as it sounds) the student
doesn't want to come or the student's mother doesn't want her to come or the
student claims she's a "good girl" or "God will punish her" or most recently
the court decision has closed the case.
As the saying goes, two reasons are as bad as none, since if one of
them is sincere one would be enough.
Regarding the most recent reason, that the court closed the case, this
cannot be so. My case was a legal case, not a ethics case. The court never
resolved on this issue since it was not a matter addressed to the court nor
is it a matter for a court. I did not ask the court do decide whether
Lily's letter was proper for a student to write, but whether her letter
caused my dismissal. I sued her for libel, not for student misconduct.
In any case, as I've repeatedly said, courts rule on legal, not
ethical, issues. It rules on acts, not conduct. It makes legal decisions,
not moral judgments. A person not guilty of a crime may still be guilty of
misconduct. A student acquitted of drunk driving may still be accountable
(to parents or teachers or church leaders) for being drunk.
Such actions concern ethical codes of families, businesses, churches,
or schools. Is there an ethical code at National Cheng Kung University? Do
we expect students to live up to ethical standards at our university?
Apart from ethical codes, is there a formal code on how to make a
complaint against a student or teacher? Is there a code that allows a
student to complain of a grade received eight years before? If so, please
cite it. If not, why was this student's complaint accepted?
These questions must be answered. But I'm not going to waste more time
on this matter. Especially since it seems to be your responsibility to
resolve this matter, not mine.
The facts are plain: A student wrote a secret letter complaining of a
grade she received eight years before. The letter seems to have been
solicited by department officials to insure my dismissal from the
university. The complaint was formally accepted by the Dean of the College
of Liberal Arts.
Let me repeat one more time: Because the letter was formally accepted,
it must be formally rejected. How this is done is not my concern. It can
be done by having a dean write a formal letter saying that the complaint was
false and should not have been accepted. Or it can be done by having the
student admit she lied.
But the complaint must be formally rejected in substance not merely in
form. Let me advise you that there is no compromise possible on this issue.

In addition, as I have repeatedly said, it seems to me to be your duty
as Dean of Student Affairs to call a student into your office, upon request,
for a supervised meeting with a student concerning issues of
student-teacher affairs. A student has that right and so does a teacher.
Otherwise there is no point in having an Office of Student Affairs.
Please schedule a supervised meeting between me and this student as
soon as possible this semester.

Sincerely,


Professor Richard de Canio
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
06) 237 8626