---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard John <rdca25@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 5:46 PM
Subject: The unresolved human rights issue at NATIONAL CHENG KUNG UNIVERSITY
To: moemail@mail.moe.gov.tw, david92@mail.moe.gov.tw
Cc: trustees@purdue.edu, rob.watts@usg.edu, info@twc.edu, sga@uh.edu, peacockke@appstate.edu, presofc@colostate.edu, ua.president@alaska.edu, kchriste@berkeley.edu, sybor@alaska.edu, Deb.Ackerman@asu.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, techpres@ttu.edu, president@po.utexas.edu, president@tamu.edu, president@temple.edu, dbennett@ucsd.edu, president@uc.edu, hultin@poly.edu, engineeradmin@tamu.edu, drice@siu.edu, jgogue@auburn.edu, trustees@auburn.edu, chancellor@usg.edu, coeinfo@u.washington.edu, barbara.snyder@case.edu, president@uchicago.edu, davidgreene@uchicago.edu, scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu, letters@taipeitimes.com, editor@it.chinatimes.com.tw, edop@etaiwannews.com, editor@etaiwannews.com, info@chinapost.com.tw, info@taipeitimes.com, louwei.chen@msa.hinet.net, hefpp@hef.org.tw, tahr@seed.net.tw, higher@mail.moe.gov.tw, cymail@ms.cy.gov.tw, eyemail@eyemail.gio.gov.tw, peu03@mail.gio.gov.tw
Ministry of Education
Taipei, Taiwan
20 August 2011
Dear Ministry,
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), presumably under the jurisdiction of Taiwan's Ministry of Education, has numerous academic exchanges with American universities, including a long-standing relationship with Purdue. Yet NCKU has been in violation of human rights for many years.
In 1999, as the Ministry knows, I was illegally dismissed. That dismissal was overturned in a Ministry ruling of 8 January 2001. Yet NCKU refused to enforce that ruling for nearly two and a half years, until May, 2003. Even then it continued to harass me under the cover of university "hearings," even imposing penalties, as if the Ministry ruling had no legal effect. The MOE canceled those penalties. But to this day NCKU has not been punished or even apologized for its human rights violations. As recently as March and May of 2011 it posted commentaries on the case implying I was the cause of my dismissal (http://news-en.secr.ncku.edu.tw/files/13-1083-78482-1.php
http://news.secr.ncku.edu.tw/files/13-1054-78481-1.php. In a country that is a signatory of human rights charters, this kind of defiance of laws and legal rulings on the part of one of its universities is unacceptable.
Despite the claim that Taiwan is an advanced or "mature" democracy, Taiwan's courts have not helped in the matter. Not a single judge saw the need to award punitive or compensatory damages or otherwise punish university officials. All the courts did was tell the university to comply with the MOE ruling, as if a bank robber is told merely to return stolen money.
Similarly, despite the claim that Taiwan is an advanced or "mature" democracy, the English-language press has yet to expose the case, despite numerous letters I sent. Presumably whether Sean Connery marches on behalf of Taiwan independence, or that a Taiwan athlete was disqualified from a taekwondo contest in Mainland China, is more newsworthy.
I add that NCKU's violations go far beyond a "technically illegal" dismissal and reflect a consistent pattern of contempt for law and human rights. Officials solicited a secret accusatory letter from a student, then circulated it at so-called oversight ("review" and "appeal") hearings. When I won a university "appeal" in December 1999 the lawyer revived the case as an employment issue, on the basis I was a "foreigner." At NCKU, if you win an appeal you win the right to appeal again. With an enlightened democracy like this one wonders how NCKU can maintain academic exchanges abroad.
After I won the MOE appeal, NCKU then argued foreigners had no right to appeal, despite its own appeal hearings and despite attending appeal hearings at the MOE. This is the same university that has established academic exchanges with American universities and whose official motto is "Discover the truth, Devoted to knowledge" (see the Wikipedia entry). But NCKU's concept of "truth" is revisionist, as posts about the case on the NCKU web page show. Its concept of "knowledge" apparently excludes human rights. Frankly, it's a disgrace NCKU is allowed to maintain academic exchanges with American universities under these conditions.
If my case is indicative, the Ministry of Education, for its part, has done little to insure foreign faculty are protected at Taiwan's universities and treated with equal rights, as Taiwan faculty receive in democracies abroad. Presumably, though I lost four or five years of my academic career, the fact that I was reinstated with retroactive salary is justice. If the MOE believes this, or if Taiwan's courts believe this, then one must question how the word "democracy" is used in Taiwan.
I challenge Taiwan academics to show similar rulings in the US, where a foreign teacher is illegally dismissed for four years and the courts merely reinstate him, without compensation to the victim or monetary penalties against the university. I challenge Taiwan's English-language press to find such a case that is not exposed by the US press.
In the meantime I will pursue this case through all legal channels until it is resolved according to international human rights principles and consistent with respect foreign faculty deserve. I believe American students should boycott all academic programs involving Taiwan universities until this case is formally resolved. Such a boycott should include any course taught by a Taiwan professor at an American university.
Sincerely,
Richard de Canio
formerly Associate Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
From: Richard John <rdca25@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 5:46 PM
Subject: The unresolved human rights issue at NATIONAL CHENG KUNG UNIVERSITY
To: moemail@mail.moe.gov.tw, david92@mail.moe.gov.tw
Cc: trustees@purdue.edu, rob.watts@usg.edu, info@twc.edu, sga@uh.edu, peacockke@appstate.edu, presofc@colostate.edu, ua.president@alaska.edu, kchriste@berkeley.edu, sybor@alaska.edu, Deb.Ackerman@asu.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, techpres@ttu.edu, president@po.utexas.edu, president@tamu.edu, president@temple.edu, dbennett@ucsd.edu, president@uc.edu, hultin@poly.edu, engineeradmin@tamu.edu, drice@siu.edu, jgogue@auburn.edu, trustees@auburn.edu, chancellor@usg.edu, coeinfo@u.washington.edu, barbara.snyder@case.edu, president@uchicago.edu, davidgreene@uchicago.edu, scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu, letters@taipeitimes.com, editor@it.chinatimes.com.tw, edop@etaiwannews.com, editor@etaiwannews.com, info@chinapost.com.tw, info@taipeitimes.com, louwei.chen@msa.hinet.net, hefpp@hef.org.tw, tahr@seed.net.tw, higher@mail.moe.gov.tw, cymail@ms.cy.gov.tw, eyemail@eyemail.gio.gov.tw, peu03@mail.gio.gov.tw
Ministry of Education
Taipei, Taiwan
20 August 2011
Dear Ministry,
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), presumably under the jurisdiction of Taiwan's Ministry of Education, has numerous academic exchanges with American universities, including a long-standing relationship with Purdue. Yet NCKU has been in violation of human rights for many years.
In 1999, as the Ministry knows, I was illegally dismissed. That dismissal was overturned in a Ministry ruling of 8 January 2001. Yet NCKU refused to enforce that ruling for nearly two and a half years, until May, 2003. Even then it continued to harass me under the cover of university "hearings," even imposing penalties, as if the Ministry ruling had no legal effect. The MOE canceled those penalties. But to this day NCKU has not been punished or even apologized for its human rights violations. As recently as March and May of 2011 it posted commentaries on the case implying I was the cause of my dismissal (http://news-en.secr.ncku.edu.tw/files/13-1083-78482-1.php
http://news.secr.ncku.edu.tw/files/13-1054-78481-1.php. In a country that is a signatory of human rights charters, this kind of defiance of laws and legal rulings on the part of one of its universities is unacceptable.
Despite the claim that Taiwan is an advanced or "mature" democracy, Taiwan's courts have not helped in the matter. Not a single judge saw the need to award punitive or compensatory damages or otherwise punish university officials. All the courts did was tell the university to comply with the MOE ruling, as if a bank robber is told merely to return stolen money.
Similarly, despite the claim that Taiwan is an advanced or "mature" democracy, the English-language press has yet to expose the case, despite numerous letters I sent. Presumably whether Sean Connery marches on behalf of Taiwan independence, or that a Taiwan athlete was disqualified from a taekwondo contest in Mainland China, is more newsworthy.
I add that NCKU's violations go far beyond a "technically illegal" dismissal and reflect a consistent pattern of contempt for law and human rights. Officials solicited a secret accusatory letter from a student, then circulated it at so-called oversight ("review" and "appeal") hearings. When I won a university "appeal" in December 1999 the lawyer revived the case as an employment issue, on the basis I was a "foreigner." At NCKU, if you win an appeal you win the right to appeal again. With an enlightened democracy like this one wonders how NCKU can maintain academic exchanges abroad.
After I won the MOE appeal, NCKU then argued foreigners had no right to appeal, despite its own appeal hearings and despite attending appeal hearings at the MOE. This is the same university that has established academic exchanges with American universities and whose official motto is "Discover the truth, Devoted to knowledge" (see the Wikipedia entry). But NCKU's concept of "truth" is revisionist, as posts about the case on the NCKU web page show. Its concept of "knowledge" apparently excludes human rights. Frankly, it's a disgrace NCKU is allowed to maintain academic exchanges with American universities under these conditions.
If my case is indicative, the Ministry of Education, for its part, has done little to insure foreign faculty are protected at Taiwan's universities and treated with equal rights, as Taiwan faculty receive in democracies abroad. Presumably, though I lost four or five years of my academic career, the fact that I was reinstated with retroactive salary is justice. If the MOE believes this, or if Taiwan's courts believe this, then one must question how the word "democracy" is used in Taiwan.
I challenge Taiwan academics to show similar rulings in the US, where a foreign teacher is illegally dismissed for four years and the courts merely reinstate him, without compensation to the victim or monetary penalties against the university. I challenge Taiwan's English-language press to find such a case that is not exposed by the US press.
In the meantime I will pursue this case through all legal channels until it is resolved according to international human rights principles and consistent with respect foreign faculty deserve. I believe American students should boycott all academic programs involving Taiwan universities until this case is formally resolved. Such a boycott should include any course taught by a Taiwan professor at an American university.
Sincerely,
Richard de Canio
formerly Associate Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
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