Students have condemned an announcement by Fu Jen Catholic University on Thursday last week that it plans to stop recruiting students to the philosophy, Chinese literature and religious studies departments in the 2019-2020 academic year.
On Saturday, a Fu Jen philosophy student posted on Facebook a letter cowritten by the department’s students on Thursday last week addressed to professors attending an administrative affairs meeting.
“At the informational meeting on Dec. 27, we suddenly received a notice from the university that some humanities departments had already entered the process to stop recruiting students,” the students wrote.
“We entered the philosophy department to search for answers to the chaos and resentment in society,” the students wrote. “As this year’s graduates, in this unique environment, we have seen older students in the department who need this educational setting to search for the meaning of life and of self-worth. We also saw students around us who were unable to receive a decent learning opportunity at the right time due to family circumstances and their upbringing. Even as they brought their exhausted bodies to campus, they still considered and faced the inevitability and beauty of life’s ups and downs.”
Fu Jen is the only Taiwanese university with a philosophy department in its School of Continuing Education, the students wrote, adding that they were thankful for and proud of the kindness that exists at Fu Jen.
“In the face of the university’s rushed decision to give up on us, we are disappointed,” the students wrote. “We hereby implore professors to help us preserve an academic haven in this cruel world and give students an opportunity to build their dreams.”
In related news, comments about religious groups made by the university’s Office of Student Affairs director Wang Ying-chou (王英洲) at Thursday last week’s meeting have sparked controversy.
“I want to remind everyone here that quantity is very important, but attention must be paid to quality as well,” Wang said. “Think about this, everyone: the effort made by the religious studies department. It goes to many religious groups to recruit students. You can imagine that in the future many fellows and dintao (陣頭) [traditional temple performance troupes] or whatever from temples will all come to the university to study.”
Why is the director of student affairs discriminating against and humiliating religious studies students at Fu Jen, religious studies student Lo Yi (羅宜) asked.
“I am a dintao child,” said Liu Chien- hung (劉建宏), who is also a religious studies student. “I am able to study here because of my ability. Why are you using the label ‘dintao child’ to discriminate against me?”
Fu Jen has always respected its students’ beliefs and does not discriminate against any religious beliefs or the research of its professors and students, the university said on Friday last week.
The student affairs director’s good-intentioned advice contains no discrimination against different religious groups, the university said, adding that it expressed regret if the director’s remarks caused some misunderstanding.
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