The Anti Taiwan Independence Historical View Alliance yesterday staged a protest in front of Academia Sinica in Taipei and asked the institute to look into the attendance and academic output of its researchers, demanding the removal of faculty found not to be performing up to standard.
The alliance accused Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) of neglecting his duties and asked Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) to look into the matter.
The alliance is starting signature drives, both online and on the streets, asking the public to join the effort to keep highly paid researchers focused on their jobs, alliance convener Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) said, adding that if Huang had become a “professional protester” he should not be in Academia Sinica.
Wang said that Huang might have violated the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) by participating in politically charged protests during business hours. He became one of the core decisionmakers during the Sunflower movement.
The student-led Sunflower movement occupied the Legislative Yuan in Taipei from March 18 to April 10 in opposition to the government’s handling of the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement.
Alliance member Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) said yesterday that Huang published four papers in 2008 that were listed in the US’ Social Sciences Citation Index, three in 2009 and four in 2010, adding that since then the number of research papers Huang has produced has plummeted.
Lin said that since the campaign against media monopolization in 2012, Huang published two papers that year and only one last year, adding that it is clear Huang has forgotten his role in society.
Academia Sinica is the pinnacle of academia in Taiwan and its researchers should dedicate their time to their studies, alliance member Hou Han-ting (侯漢廷) said.
While researchers should not be barred from expressing concern over the nation’s political development, their actions should be in accordance with the law and it should not interfere with their research, Hou said.
“We in the alliance are calling on people to look into how Academia Sinica researchers are using their time and pay,” Wang said, adding that he would be forwarding the results of the signature drive to Academia Sinica and ask it to investigate the matter more thoroughly.
In response, Academia Sinica secretary-general Wu Chin-lie (吳金冽) said that Huang had applied for days off during the student protests, adding that Huang’s actions during his days off were his own concern and he would take full responsibility for them.
It is not up to another individual or organization to decide whether Huang has neglected his duties, Wu said.
Wu said that as Huang’s participation in the student-led Sunflower movement was not Academia Sinica business, the institute cannot penalize him for it.
Additional reporting by Tang Chia-ling
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