After days of fierce media scrutiny, the Ministry of Education yesterday finally decided to strip Peng Tso-kwei (彭作奎), president of National Chung Hsing University, of his post on the grounds that -- having been found to have committed plagiarism -- he is no longer suitable for the post.
The announcement ended a public controversy surrounding the selection of the school's president that has persisted since last summer.
"Being a president of a university, one should be equipped with both administrative competence and supreme moral standards. Since Peng's academic publications have been proven to be plagiarized, he is unfit to be the head of a university," said Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳), vice minister of education.
"The ministry has deprived Peng of his position in accordance with article three of the Teaching Personnel Hiring Act (教育人員任用條例), which states that teachers must remain of good character."
The dispute has been a focus of media attention since last September when the head of the school's professors' association Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏), reported the accusation against Peng's academic integrity to the ministry after Peng was chosen to be one of the presidential hopefuls of the university.
In spite of strong protests by the school's professors, the education ministry selected Peng as president. Peng assumed the post on Oct. 1.
After months of investigation, the National Science Council ruled earlier this month that the charge of plagiarism against Peng was valid, and the Committee for Academic Evaluation (
On hearing the news, Wu said he was pleased with the outcome, but he said the Ministry of Education should still be blamed for dragging its feet over the case and for Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng's (曾志朗) "evasive attitude" towards the dispute.
Reports said Peng had told Tzeng of his intention of resigning shortly before the ministry announced its decision.
At a press conference held at the university -- though Peng apologized for the tumult caused by the incident both at the university and in society at large -- he considered the ruling by the National Science Council to be unfair.
"I would like to apologize for the instability stemming from this event and I am here to announce my decision to resign from my post because I feel my pride has been trampled on. I think a scholar's integrity, just like the chastity of an empress, allows no room for questioning," said Peng, referring to what he described the National Science Council's "unjust verdict."
"There is a difference between plagiarizing and lacking proper citations. What I did not do appropriately was to include the original references in the book, but that is not plagiarism."
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS