Nearly 50 National Taiwan University (NTU) alumni residing in California on Friday voiced opposition to the local alumni association’s decision to invite Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) as the main speaker at its upcoming annual meeting, which they said Kuan might use to explain away his controversy.
The NTU Alumni Association of Southern California is to hold its 45th annual conference on July 21 at the Pacific Palms Resort in California.
Kuan, an Academia Sinica academician, was elected NTU president on Jan. 5 and would have taken office on Feb. 1, but his appointment was not approved by the Ministry of Education amid allegations of plagiarism, a conflict of interest and a flawed election process.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The election controversy has led to the resignation of education ministers Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) in April and Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) in May.
Several association members told a news conference in Rosemead, a suburb of Los Angeles, that nearly 50 NTU alumni had signed a petition against inviting Kuan.
The opponents decided to issue a statement at the news conference, because the association’s council did not respond to the petition.
NTU has made little progress in improving its worldwide ranking, so it does not need a president who is adroit in sustaining political and business connections, former association council member Lin Mei-li (林美里) said.
The controversies surrounding Kuan’s election have not been clarified, but some sources indicated that NTU management asked the association to invite Kuan as a speaker, she said.
Kuan could use the occasion to explain himself, Lin said, urging the association to clarify its invitation process.
Kuan last month filed an administrative appeal against the ministry’s refusal to approve his appointment, former NTU College of Public Health dean Wang Chiu-sen (王秋森) told the news conference.
The Executive Yuan’s Petitions and Appeals Committee has not made any decision and alumni are allowed to express their personal views, but the association should not intervene in the matter on behalf of all of its members, he said.
Given that members hold different views on the issue, the association’s leadership would definitely provoke more contention if it insists on inviting Kuan, which would also increase the damage to NTU’s reputation, he added.
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