Verbal clashes erupted on National Taiwan University’s (NTU) campus yesterday between students who support the election of Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) as university president and those who oppose it.
The Ministry of Education on Friday last week rejected Kuan’s election after a series of allegations, ranging from conflicts of interest in the selection process to plagiarism and teaching in China, prevented Kuan from taking office as scheduled on Feb. 1.
The Action Alliance for University Autonomy, formed by a number of academics who support Kuan, held a rally on the campus near the landmark Fu Bell (傅鐘). Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) visited the campus to show their solidarity with faculty members and students supporting Kuan.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Ma said that a university should not be polluted by politics, while Hung joined a sit-in.
At about 4pm, more than 20 NTU students who oppose Kuan’s election raised banners near the bell that read: “Kuan’s purity cheated the entire country.”
As the two sides traded barbs, a Kuan-supporter pulled the shirt collar of an anti-Kuan student, while another person drew on a student’s white shirt using lipstick.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
At one point, anti-Kuan students were cornered by people supporting the president-elect.
Some Kuan supporters were heard shouting: “Students get off the campus,” “Red Guards” and “Japanese lackey (日本走狗).”
Campus police intervened, separating the two parties to prevent the conflict from escalating.
NTU professor Chen Tung-sheng (陳東升) later yesterday said that if the university wants to ensure school autonomy, the first step would be to protect the personal safety of NTU students and teachers, and their freedom to express different opinions inside the campus.
“NTU students were beaten for expressing their opinion inside their own school — this is a very serious matter and the darkest day in NTU’s history,” Chen said.
The university’s acting president and administrative units must be held responsible for what happened and the people who used violence should be strongly condemned, he added.
Earlier yesterday, KMT lawmakers rallied outside the ministry to protest the ministry’s decision not to confirm Kuan as NTU president.
“On the 99th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement (五 四運動), the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration has crossed the red line of democracy and academic freedom,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said, referring to an intellectual and reformist movement in China.
The DPP has advocated against allowing politics to interfere in school affairs, but the charges it has fabricated against Kuan show that its so-called ideals are just tools for political struggle, Lee said.
School autonomy is crucial for young people to cultivate democratic values, and the KMT caucus wants to show its support for student protesters who yesterday took a stand on the issue at the NTU to let the DPP and the ministry know that they must not tread on the nation’s hard-won democracy and freedom, she said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier William Lai (賴清德) of being the masterminds behind the ministry’s decision not to confirm Kuan.
The caucus did not stage the rally to rescue Kuan, but to call for support for university autonomy and democracy, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
There are 140 NTU faculty members who are also independent board directors, and most of them took up their posts in the private sector before informing the school — like what Kuan did when he accepted the Taiwan Mobile seat, Tseng said.
Lai yesterday told legislators that he would “take responsibility” for the ministry’s decision against confirming Kuan.
He made the remarks in response to KMT Legislator Alicia Wang’s (王育敏) question on whether the ministry had acted on his or Tsai’s orders, or whether the premier gave the order without first informing the president.
Lai said that, as the premier, he is responsible for the appointment of ministers, as well as the decisions they make.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique