National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday announced it had expelled Macau-born student Chan Ho-yeung (陳皓揚) for allegedly killing cats.
Chan has been accused of kidnapping and killing a pet cat, nicknamed Ban Ban (斑斑), which was owned by the proprietor of a local establishment, the second cat Chan is accused of killing, following the alleged slaying last year of a local stray nicknamed “Big Orange.”
Chan previously received two major and two minor demerits from a university disciplinary committee over last year’s incident — for which he has also been indicted — while this year’s incident triggered another disciplinary hearing last week that resulted in his expulsion, which was finalized on Monday, the university said.
It said that Chan was expelled according to Clause 6, Article 10 of the NTU Code of Student Conduct, which authorizes the expulsion of a student who has been convicted by a court of law of a crime defined in the Criminal Code, or found by a university investigation to have committed such a crime.
NTU expressed remorse over the cat-killing incidents and said that it would assist Chan’s parents in their efforts to care for him after his expulsion and to provide psychological counseling if he requests it.
The university said it hopes Chan will submit to therapy and take responsibility for his actions.
Chan completed the coursework and credits required to graduate, but his expulsion took place before he completed the application process for graduation, although he can transfer the credits if he enrolls in another university or graduate studies institution, NTU secretary-general Lin Ta-te (林達德) said.
Chan asked the disciplinary committee to give him a second chance, but it rejected that request, Lin said.
Lin said that the committee is a separate authority from the courts and the decision to expel Chan remains valid even if the courts do not indict him.
Earlier this month, Chan went on trial, which is ongoing. He faces up to a year in jail or a fine if he is found guilty.
Chan has argued in court that he has psychological problems and is unable to control his urge to kill cats.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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