National Taiwan University (NTU) professor Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) took office as the university’s president at a ceremony yesterday amid lingering concerns over his controversial election.
Kuan thanked faculty, students and others for “supporting university autonomy” and “making the inauguration ceremony possible,” but did not comment on the controversy that delayed his inauguration for nearly a year.
While many people would think the position represents the peak of his career, he considered it an “opportunity to repay my debt to NTU,” Kuan said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Reiterating his vision for the university, he said that his priorities are enhancing its global competitiveness and promoting innovation, adding that he would do his best to collaborate with faculty and students to build “a brighter future” for the university.
Kuan was on Jan. 5 last year elected NTU president and was originally scheduled to take office the next month, but the Ministry of Education in April refused to appoint him, citing an alleged conflict of interest, as Kuan was an independent director on Taiwan Mobile’s board and company vice president Richard Tsai (蔡明興) sat on the university’s election committee.
It also found that Kuan had been on the company’s board and a member of its salary committee before the university approved his application to take up the positions.
The ministry ordered a new election, but the university refused to comply, saying that the order lacked legal basis.
On Dec. 24, then-minister of education Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮), who took office in July last year after two education ministers stepped down over the controversy, approved Kuan’s appointment, but requested that the university submit within three months a review of the controversies and propose solutions.
“With regard to some issues that arose during the presidential election, we hope the university would be open to different opinions and make improvements,” said Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟), who presided over the ceremony.
He also expressed the hope that as president, Kuan would work on communicating with faculty and students with different opinions and clarify public concerns in a timely manner.
The ceremony was attended by hundreds of people, including faculty, students, alumni and journalists, who filled the venue about an hour before the ceremony began.
About 200 police officers were deployed to maintain order, but the only protester was a professor who shouted “shame“ and gave a thumb-down sign when Kuan appeared on stage.
Although Kuan has been formally sworn in, his presidency remains uncertain due to a number of factors.
NTU professor Wu Ruey-beei (吳瑞北), who ran for president alongside Kuan, in September filed an administrative lawsuit against the ministry and NTU, requesting that the university repeat the election as there had been a potential conflict of interest in the election process.
The first court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29.
Wu on Monday also appealed a Taipei High Administrative Court ruling that Kuan’s inauguration should not be postponed until the lawsuit reached a conclusion.
Kuan is under investigation for allegedly illegally working part-time for a magazine while serving as a minister without portfolio. If found guilty, he could be impeached by the Control Yuan.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS