University student representative groups on Monday last week protested the postponement of a draft amendment to the University Act (大學法), which would increase student representation in university councils to 20 percent from 10 percent.
Some of those protesting in front of the Ministry of Education speculated that university presidents pressured the ministry to put the amendment on hold.
Members of the National Students’ Union of Taiwan were among those at the protest.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
University presidents are being “giant babies” and the ministry should hasten the amendment’s passage, union secretary-general Huang Ting-wei (黃亭偉) said.
Union president Liu Yao-Wei (劉曜維), who studies at Yuan Ze University, said that capping student representation at 10 percent turns student voices into “white noise” at council meetings.
When meetings are held that affect students’ studies and well-being, school administration limits the representatives allowed to attend, despite others wanting a say on matters, Liu said.
National Taipei University of Technology student council deputy speaker Chao Yuan heng (趙元亨) said some university presidents oppose increasing student representation because student turnover is high.
However, university presidents have a term of four years, and council representatives have a term of one year, Chao said.
National Dong Hwa University student council president Chen Yen-ling (陳彥伶) said students comprise 90 percent of the campus populations, but with only 10 percent representation in university councils, proposals from students often hit obstacles.
Only by increasing student representation on the councils can “teacher-student cogovernance” be realized, United Student Union of North Taiwan deputy chairperson Feng Hui-lun (馮輝倫) said.
Union of Private School Educators president Yu Jung-hui (尤榮輝) said that the legislature should proceed with a review of the amendment regardless of whether the ministry forwards it.
Department of Higher Education deputy head Liang Hsueh-cheng (梁學政) met with the groups and received a student petition.
The ministry has held nine discussions on the issue from September to November last year, and is seeking common ground between all stakeholders before moving forward with the amendment, Liang said.
‘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