University students yesterday called for government intervention to stop Fu Jen Catholic University’s “discriminatory” policy of imposing a curfew on female dormitories.
Students from National Taiwan University (NTU), National Chengchi University (NCCU) and Soochow University staged a rally in front of the Ministry of Education building to voice their support for FJU Cinderella — a group formed by Fu Jen students opposed to the curfew — urging the university to abolish the curfew, which they said was built on a weak premise that violates female students’ freedom.
Fu Jen students said that female students are required to return to the dormitories by midnight, or they will receive a demerit barring them from participating in a draw for dormitory rooms the next semester and be required to perform two hours of chores for every half-hour they are late.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Male students can enter their dormitories whenever they want, they said.
Sitting in a wheelchair, FJU student association chairwoman Liao Yu-wen (廖郁雯), who has been on a hunger strike to protest the curfew since Monday morning, said that a cleric at the school told her that the matter would be discussed at a hearing in October.
She said the university had been holding hearings on the standoff for one year, and that she was disappointed in the school’s perfunctory response.
NCCU Wildfire Front member Lin Tsung-chih (林宗志) said the curfew is undemocratic and outdated, and that Fu Jen should provide better arguments to convince students that a curfew can improve their safety.
He said that gender equality is a universal value that should not be subordinated by the autonomy enjoyed by universities.
He called on all college students to boycott universities that still implement curfews and the ministry to propose bills that would ensure gender equality on campus.
NTU student association head Cheng Ting-yin (鄭婷尹) said that her university in 1993 agreed to the association’s appeal and lifted the curfew on female dormitories.
Thanks to the abolition of curfew, students no longer have to stay out at night for fear of being punished, which greatly improved their safety, she said.
Cheng called on Fu Jen to improve communication with students, saying it was regrettable that its students have to resort to such drastic measures to hold a dialogue with the school administrators on an equal footing.
Independent music promoter and social activist Yao Ken-hsiang (姚茛翔), better known as Indie Dadee (音地大帝), was also on the scene to express solidarity with the students.
“There are many ways to protect students, and the worst thing to do is restrict their freedom, which reveals the school’s oppressive governance style,” Yao said.
Ni Chou-hua (倪周華), a division chief at the ministry’s Department of Higher Education, said the ministry would seek to resolve the standoff by establishing a communication platform between education officials, the university and the students within one month.
He urged students who have joined the hunger strike to take care of their health.
Fu Jen law major Wang Tzu-chi (王子綺) and philosophy major Lin Ya-hui (林雅惠) have also joined Liao in the hunger strike.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS