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