University students yesterday called for government intervention to stop Fu Jen Catholic University’s “discriminatory” policy of imposing a curfew on female dormitories.
Students from National Taiwan University (NTU), National Chengchi University (NCCU) and Soochow University staged a rally in front of the Ministry of Education building to voice their support for FJU Cinderella — a group formed by Fu Jen students opposed to the curfew — urging the university to abolish the curfew, which they said was built on a weak premise that violates female students’ freedom.
Fu Jen students said that female students are required to return to the dormitories by midnight, or they will receive a demerit barring them from participating in a draw for dormitory rooms the next semester and be required to perform two hours of chores for every half-hour they are late.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Male students can enter their dormitories whenever they want, they said.
Sitting in a wheelchair, FJU student association chairwoman Liao Yu-wen (廖郁雯), who has been on a hunger strike to protest the curfew since Monday morning, said that a cleric at the school told her that the matter would be discussed at a hearing in October.
She said the university had been holding hearings on the standoff for one year, and that she was disappointed in the school’s perfunctory response.
NCCU Wildfire Front member Lin Tsung-chih (林宗志) said the curfew is undemocratic and outdated, and that Fu Jen should provide better arguments to convince students that a curfew can improve their safety.
He said that gender equality is a universal value that should not be subordinated by the autonomy enjoyed by universities.
He called on all college students to boycott universities that still implement curfews and the ministry to propose bills that would ensure gender equality on campus.
NTU student association head Cheng Ting-yin (鄭婷尹) said that her university in 1993 agreed to the association’s appeal and lifted the curfew on female dormitories.
Thanks to the abolition of curfew, students no longer have to stay out at night for fear of being punished, which greatly improved their safety, she said.
Cheng called on Fu Jen to improve communication with students, saying it was regrettable that its students have to resort to such drastic measures to hold a dialogue with the school administrators on an equal footing.
Independent music promoter and social activist Yao Ken-hsiang (姚茛翔), better known as Indie Dadee (音地大帝), was also on the scene to express solidarity with the students.
“There are many ways to protect students, and the worst thing to do is restrict their freedom, which reveals the school’s oppressive governance style,” Yao said.
Ni Chou-hua (倪周華), a division chief at the ministry’s Department of Higher Education, said the ministry would seek to resolve the standoff by establishing a communication platform between education officials, the university and the students within one month.
He urged students who have joined the hunger strike to take care of their health.
Fu Jen law major Wang Tzu-chi (王子綺) and philosophy major Lin Ya-hui (林雅惠) have also joined Liao in the hunger strike.
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