Following a conflict-of-interest controversy surrounding the election of National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), the Ministry of Education yesterday said it has again ordered the university to clarify the matter following requests from the Control Yuan and lawmakers.
A 21-member committee elected Kuan on Jan. 5. However, it was later revealed that Kuan was an independent director of Taiwan Mobile and company vice chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) was a committee member.
Kuan failed to disclose his connection with Tsai prior to the election, and Tsai did not recuse himself from the election.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The alleged conflict of interest prompted the Democratic Progressive Party caucus to issue a resolution yesterday demanding that the ministry “halt the appointment until the questionable [practice] involved in the selection of NTU’s president is investigated.”
Kuan is scheduled to take office on Thursday next week.
Asked if Kuan’s inauguration might be delayed, Department of Personnel Director Chen Kun-yuan (陳焜元) said the ministry “does not want any delay in the [inauguration] process and NTU has been urged to make an immediate response.”
The ministry has a standard procedure to deal with the controversial election of university presidents, he said.
That procedure was followed after the election in October last year of National Yang-Ming University president Steve Kuo (郭旭崧), whose eligibility was questioned as he was an associate professor instead of a professor, Chen said, adding that the university was asked to clarify the eligibility criteria and selection process.
Ordered by the ministry earlier this month to clarify the situation, the NTU committee on Jan. 11 said no rules were broken in the election.
As the Control Yuan on Monday ordered the ministry to probe the scandal, it has reissued the order to the committee.
“NTU has to respond to the issue in an appropriate manner,” Chen said.
Committee spokeswoman Yuan Hsiao-wei (袁孝維) reiterated the Jan. 11 statement, saying that there was no condition that would disqualify Tsai as a committee member.
As a secret ballot was used for the election, comments about committee members’ votes were purely conjecture, Yuan said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book