Criticizing National Taiwan University for failing to resolve the controversy over its president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), the National Taiwan University Student Association yesterday said it would propose a motion to review the school’s regulations at next month’s council meeting.
The Ministry of Education on April 27 said that Kuan was unqualified for the post because he had violated regulations by illegally serving as an independent director and a member of the salary and auditing committees at Taiwan Mobile, and that his election had been flawed due to a conflict of interest in the process.
A provisional school affairs meeting on Saturday decided that the university should urge the ministry to approve Kuan’s selection and that the school would take legal action if the ministry refused.
A motion proposed at that meeting by student association president Lin Yen-ting (林彥廷) calling for an overhaul of the legal and administrative disputes throughout the election process and increased percentage of student representatives on the election committee and university council was vetoed in a 66-52 vote.
By refusing to investigate the controversy surrounding Kuan or to review its regulations, the university is allowing the boundaries defining academic misconduct to blur, the association said yesterday.
“To resolve the controversy, the university must examine all related facts and have a sufficient legal basis. To better implement university autonomy, it must take on a more active and responsible role and overhaul its regulations,” the group said in a statement.
The association would propose a motion to review the university’s regulations at the next council meeting, scheduled for June 9, the group said.
In related news, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premier Simon Chang (張善政), both graduates of the university, yesterday issued a joint statement calling on the ministry to appoint Kuan.
“As alumni, we are urging the ministry to appoint Kuan as the university’s president based on Article 9 of the University Act (大學法) following the university council’s meeting on Saturday,” they said.
Their statement was not aimed at expressing support for any individual, they simply believe controversies should be resolved by adhering to the law, they said.
“We have respectively been the vice-president and premier for different ruling parties. We understand a transparent and fair environment is essential for high-quality public policies and that the basic principles of democracy and law that separate right from wrong must not be compromised,” they said.
According to Article 9, the ministry must appoint the president selected by public universities, Lu said in a separate statement.
If interested parties believe such an election was flawed, they can file for an administrative remedy after the appointment has been made, she added.
Lu was vice president during the first Democratic Progressive Party administration of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), while Chang was premier for a little more than three months during the second term of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Additional reporting by CNA and staff writer
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS