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TPEC students defend campus

Students, alumni and teachers from the Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) yesterday accused environmentalists of deliberately preventing students and faculty members from using the Tianmu Campus.

They said the interference has delayed many construction projects on campus, forcing students to conduct their training at facilities off-campus, adding that some of the students have been injured in traffic accidents on their way to these training facilities. Because of the injuries, they were not able to carry on practice for months, the students said.

Lo Chin-long (羅金龍), president of TPEC’s Student Government, told a press conference yesterday that TPEC students pay tuition like any other university students, but they do not have the facilities that a regular university has. He said their educational rights were being deprived.

Huang Wen-cheng (黃文成), president of TPEC’s Alumni Association, said the school was known as the home of celebrity athletes, such as New York Yankees starting pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) and tennis player Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容).

“Students were all elated when the government decided to establish a new campus in Tianmu two years ago,” he said. “Now because of the relentless protests from the Tianmu Taipei Citizen’s Rights Committee, students have to run from one place to another. Now parents do not want to send their children to the college anymore.”

Chuang, now a second-year graduate student at TPEC, also came to the press conference to show her support.

“Athletes would be extremely disappointed if they were unable to compete because of an injury that did not even occur during the training process,” she said.

Other alumni, including Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Chen Shih-shin (陳詩欣), taekwondo athelete Su Li-wen (蘇麗文) and marathon runner Kevin Lin (林義傑), did not attend the press conference yesterday, but issued statements endorsing the campaign to fight for the campus in Tianmu.

Conflicts broke out between Tianmu residents and TPEC’s faculty members at a hearing on Wednesday.

Jay Fang (方儉), a Tianmu resident and chairman of the Green Consumers’ Foundation, said in a television interview that the school had applied for a stadium construction license, not a school.

The residents still opposed the deal even though the city government has shrunk the size of the campus from 16.8 hectares to 5.8 hectares.

Sports Affairs Council Chairwoman Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said the council would stand with the students and faculty members at TPEC, but the Ministry of Education is the administrative authority that handles university affairs.

“We hope that the MOE and the Taipei City Government will resolve this matter peacefully,” she said. “It is a real tragedy for students if they do not have a campus to go to.”
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