National Chengchi University (NCCU) student group the “Wild Fire Alliance” on Friday handed in 1,378 signatures to school authorities, asking the university to abolish its anthem, which they said contained “party-state ideology.”
Pointing to lyrics to the anthem such as “implementing the Three Principles of the People is our party’s mission/building the Republic of China is our party’s responsibility,” student group spokesperson Yang Tsu-hsien (楊子賢) said that the university’s insistence that students sing the anthem in the annual choir competition “makes it difficult for people to tell whether NCCU is a national university or a university established by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).”
Students said that the phrases “the responsibility of our party” echoed party-state ideologies, adding that it sounded more like brainwashing rather than arousing within the students a sense of pride in their school.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The NCCU was established in 1927 in Nanjing, China, by the KMT as a party university providing training for party members. It was re-established in Taiwan in 1954 under its current name, with Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) serving as the university’s president.
Hsu Tsu-wei (徐子為), another student representative, said the university has been sidestepping and boycotting the students’ call through administrative processes, but added that the university should base their considerations on students in the modern age.
“We should be looking to the future, instead of praising the past,” Hsu said, adding that the alliance is not ruling out action both within and outside the school’s administrative system to abolish the anthem.
“We should seek to retain the dynamism of plurality of values and liberties within modern national universities,” Hsu said.
The student’s actions were supported by NCCU professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明), who called on the university to address the issue.
“The school anthem is the product of an authoritarian government, and should not exist within a modern and open-minded university,” Chen said.
In response, university authorities said they respected the students’ proposal and would adopt an open-minded attitude toward any issue that is brought to the university’s consideration under the proper channels.
University chief secretary Kou Chien-wen (寇健文) said the university is not affiliated with any political party and its selection of staff is based strictly on capabilities and academic merit.
The anthem has seen decades of years of history and is an important link between alumni and the university, Kou said, but added that the university would be open to suggestions from student groups.
Additional reporting by CNA
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