A group of students from Shih Hsin University (SHU) yesterday asked the Ministry of Education to get involved in the school’s selection of a chairperson to prevent the university from being run as a family business.
Members of Shih Hsin University Students Labor Rights Group made the appeal during a protest in front of the ministry’s building in Taipei.
The university was established by Cheng She-wo (成舍我) in 1950s. Cheng’s daughter, Cheng Chia-ling (成嘉玲), succeeded him as SHU chairwoman.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Following the appointment of Cheng Chia-ling’s son, Chou Cheng-hu (周成虎), as SHU vice chairperson in November last year, some students said they believed Chou is planning to succeed his mother as chairperson.
Although the university is a private school, educational institutions should serve the public, the students said, expressing concerns that the school’s assets may become “family assets.”
Alleging that the family might have embezzled some of the school’s assets, the students asked the ministry to get involved in the selection of a chairperson and to launch an investigation into the university’s assets.
The students said that according to the school’s financial reports between 2008 and 2012, the school invested a total of NT$11,470,000 (US$328,300) in two companies — Taipei Online and Red Mushroom Digital — and Chou was one the board of directors of both companies.
Although the university said those were donations it gave to the cultural-oriented companies before Chou joined their board, the students said they suspected the Cheng family may have embezzled school assets though the investments.
Department of Higher Education Director Tseng Hsin-yuan (曾新元) said the ministry would send accountants to examine the university’s accounts.
The school said that it was regretful that the students made groundless accusations against Chou, adding that its financial reports have been certified by accountants.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods