Following the months-long debate over the legitimacy of National Taiwan University's (NTU) presidential election process, the announcement of Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔) as the university's new president by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Friday has sparked still more controversy. This time around, tongues are wagging about the ministry's alleged favoritism -- and Lee's personal interest in psychic phenomenons.
After the struggle to find a new president for NTU, the selection of Lee to succeed current NTU president Chen Wei-jao (
"NTU's election committee selected engineering college dean Yang Yeong-bin (
In addition to calling on NTU's presidential election committee and students to speak up and fight for the university's autonomy, Kuan also urged Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) to consider yielding more decision-making power to universities.
"It is unfortunate that the preference of the nation's most prestigious university was overlooked by the Ministry of Education. To show more respect to NTU, I urge Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) not to approve the MOE's choice," Kuan said.
During NTU's first primary, held to narrow the field from the six presidential hopefuls in March, only Yang earned more than 50 percent of the votes and qualified as a finalist. The university then held another primary in April in which it chose Lee as a second finalist to present to the MOE -- even though he had not attracted more than 50 percent of the vote in the first primary.
In addition to the criticism that the MOE ignored the primary result at the university and chose Lee to take the post, the opposition also questioned the new president's personal interest in psychic phenomenons.
"I don't think a person who promotes psychic phenomenons and superstitious behavior should lead NTU," said NTU election committee member Yang Hsin-nan (楊信男), a professor at the Physics Department. "His election as president will seriously damage our school's reputation and encourage superstitious behavior."
Chao Ting-wei (
"I don't think it is a good idea to select someone whose studies have sparked controversy to be the new president at NTU," he said.
As an engineering professor, Lee has been famous for his study of psychic phenomenons for more than 10 years. Believing that there are things that humans cannot comprehend, Lee drew himself into center of debate in 2001 when he defended a Chinese "magic doctor" Zhang Ying (
Lee also offered classes at NTU and outside of the university that trained students in clairvoyance. In 2002, Lee published a paper asserting that 21 out of the 138 students his team has trained since 1966 exhibited the clairvoyant ability often called the "Deva Eye" in Buddhism.
Expressing support for Lee, atmospheric sciences professor Chen Tai-jen (陳泰然) said that personal interest in certain fields should not be confused with one's academic achievements and leadership.
"There is nothing wrong in studying supernatural powers and the unseen world. Lee is an excellent professor and is very smart in attending to practical affairs," said Chen, who was one of the six presidential hopefuls in the university's primary election. "I believe he will continue to lead NTU, the nation's best university."
Chen Rui-rong (陳銳榮), a professor in NTU's department of molecular and cellular bioscience, said that the real focus should be the shortcomings of the current university president selection process.
"The education ministry now holds the right to made decisions about university presidents from candidates chosen by a schools' election committee," Chen said. "I think universities should have more power to choose their own presidents."
Responding to the controversy, Tu said he respects the choice of the MOE's selection committee. Tu declined to comment on criticism about Lee being chosen over Yang.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the