Letter to Dean of Student Affair (13 October 2003)

Letter to Dean of Student Affairs
10/13/2003 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: Please arrange a meeting between me and the student involved in
misconduct by the end of next weekTo: mengli_2
CC: moe


Dear Dean Ko,

Thanks for the invitation for a November 5, 2003 meeting with the
student, Ms. Chen.
However, there are several issues I must address:
First, why does it take more than two years for you to respond to a
colleague's request for a supervised meeting with a student? In what other
university does it take this long to satisfy such a request? If there's an
"Office of Student Affairs" it must respond to such requests promptly. The
ethical behavior of students is no less important than the ethical behavior
of faculty. In addition, the willingness of officials to do the job that
they were appointed to do is necessary if Taiwan's universities are to
compete against universities elsewhere.
Second, despite your claim in your email and your "official" letter,
this case is not over. It will not be over until this student admits to
wrongdoing and apologizes for her behavior. I will pursue every legal
channel until this goal is achieved. The student made a formal complaint;
that complaint was formally accepted by the College of Liberal Arts; that
complaint was used at my dismissal hearings; and that complaint must be
formally nullified, including an apology from the student and the university
administration. Any other "solution" is not a solution and is unacceptable
to me.
In condoning or overlooking this student's behavior, the current
administration is fostering a culture of immorality and lawlessness and this
should be unacceptable. This student is currently a graduate student: What
kind of values are you passing on to the next generation of this nation's
leaders: that it's not what you do in life that matters? Good and evil are
irrelevant, so long as you know influential people? Those are not the
values that are the basis of a great society.
So please let's cooperate on a full and just resolution of this case.

Sincerely,


Professor Richard de Canio
(06) 237 8626
2757575 52235