National Taiwan University Hospital’s (NTUH) Department of Psychiatry on Monday said that it has terminated professional ties with professor emeritus Lee Ming-been (李明濱) and is conducting an investigation following accusations of sexual misconduct against the psychiatrist.
Last week, the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) cited a person who had trained in the department as saying that Lee was known to have harassed women.
After the report was published, a second person who was trained at the department backed up the allegations, calling Lee a “repeat offender.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Lee is chairman of the Taiwanese Society of Suicidology and leads the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, the second former resident said, adding that as no one dared to speak out against him, women could only “pass on” warnings about Lee to new residents.
Following the accusations, the Ministry of Health and Welfare removed Lee as leader of the center and launched an investigation.
The department in a statement on Monday said that is has “zero tolerance” for any form of sexual harassment.
Photo: Taipei Times
It apologized to the women who made the accusations and vowed to conduct an internal review.
Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital, where Lee serves as a psychiatrist, said it would pay close attention to the ministry and NTUH investigations, and proceed accordingly.
Lee last week said that it was the first time he had heard the accusations and that he would seek assistance from a lawyer if necessary.
Separately, a university in southern Taiwan on Monday forwarded allegations of sexual assault by a visiting professor surnamed Cheng (鄭) to the Ministry of Education.
An anonymous post on Facebook accused Cheng, who is known for his work in Taiwanese and folk music, of “taking turns sleeping with” male students in the Taiwanese music department at the unnamed university while they were touring, as well as taking intimate photographs of them.
Some of the students were underage and the activity might have been going on for decades, the post said.
The author of the post said that he did not feel comfortable making the allegations for years as Cheng is well respected in his field.
The post included screenshots of text conversations to support the claims.
Cheng, who has served as dean of the music institute and acting president at the university, denied the allegations in a statement, saying that the matter has left him “physically and emotionally exhausted,” and he would be making no further comment.
The university said it has convened a panel to investigate the claims and encouraged people to file reports with it to aid with the probe, which might result in Cheng’s termination.
In other news, entertainer Tina Chou (周宜霈) yesterday accused TV host Blackie Chen (陳建州), who runs Taiwan’s P.League+ professional basketball league, of pressuring her into having sex.
Chou, who is also known as Ta Ya (大牙), wrote on Facebook that Chen repeatedly pressured her while they were filming a television program in Hong Kong in 2012.
Chen denied the allegations through his lawyer.
Separately, the Taipei Department of Labor on Monday announced the results of its investigation into the alleged mishandling of two sexual harassment complaints by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials.
The agency said that it would fine the DPP NT$900,000 and make public the names of the supervisors who had failed to adequately respond to reports of harassment.
The agency said that it had sent notices to the headquarters of the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), ordering them to properly handle and report sexual harassment accusations in accordance with the regulations.
Investigations into other situations involving the two parties are ongoing, it said, adding that the results would be announced when they are available.
DPP Gender Equality Division director Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) said that the DPP respects the results of the investigation, and it has been working to improve its measures for preventing and handling sexual harassment cases.
Additional reporting by Yang Chin-cheng, Lin Nan-ku, Tsai Ssu-pei and Chen Yun
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