Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) will not hold a new presidential election, board chairman Chen Chien-chih (陳建志) said yesterday after the Ministry of Education said that three board members who participated in the election were not qualified for the role.
The KMU on Jan. 11 elected National Chiao Tung University professor Jong Yuh-jyh (鐘育志) as its new president, but several KMU alumni questioned the board members’ eligibility and the election process, and asked the ministry to investigate.
The ministry on Wednesday said that the university had breached a number of laws and regulations and it might have to hold another election.
The ministry found that three board members who participated in the election are employed as KMU Hospital attending physicians, which is against the university’s regulations, because its students and employees are not eligible to serve on the board.
The KMU has been ordered to replace the unqualified board members within a month.
The ministry also found that the university’s regulations governing bonuses for medical staff is in breach of Paragraph 2, Article 50 of the Private School Act (私立學校法), which stipulates that the finances of a university and its hospital must be separate.
According to the ministry, the university must ask former KMU president Liu Ching-kuan (劉景寬) to return the NT$20 million (US$684,767) in bonuses paid in the past four years.
The KMU board yesterday said it would try to retrieve the money from Liu as soon as possible, and that it would review its financial regulations.
However, it denied that three of its board members are not qualified for their roles.
The three board members are KMU clinical practice teachers who are also attending physicians, board secretary Hsiao Shih-huai (蕭世槐) said.
The university’s regulations strictly define hospital employees as full-time employees, which the three board members are not, he added.
The university will not hold another presidential election, Chen said.
The ministry has overinterpreted the regulations, the board’s legal consultant Lee Sheng-chen (李勝琛) said, adding that he hopes the ministry will change its approach and approve Jong’s election as soon as possible.
Jong is scheduled to take office on July 1.
Additional reporting by Fang Chih-hsien
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