National Taiwan University (NTU) and its Gallery of NTU History yesterday promised to include university student associations’ complaints regarding its “Special Exhibit on the Centennial of the May 4th Movement” in the exhibition to present a balanced account.
The university’s student association, as well as other student associations from eight different departments and the school newspaper, on Friday issued a joint statement complaining about a particular section of the exhibit.
The gallery’s arrangement of the “Young May — The ‘May Fourth’ at the National University of Taiwan” section was neither neutral nor did it meet the responsibility of historians, the statement read, calling on the gallery to be true to itself and not portray a false sense of diversity.
Screen grab from the National Taiwan University Student Association’s Facebook timeline
The section focuses on the “New May Fourth Movement,” that was launched at the university on May 4 last year
Born from the controversial election of Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) as NTU president, the New May Fourth Movement claimed to defend academic freedom and university autonomy.
Kuan was accused of breaching research ethics and a conflict of interest because of his position as an independent director of Taiwan Mobile.
He was also accused of teaching illegally at Chinese universities.
The joint statement said the gallery should include that the university favored certain groups — namely the Action Alliance for University Autonomy.
The Action Alliance was perceived to have been given greater leeway, as it was allowed to put up its slogans and banners anywhere on campus, while student groups protesting that the processes of selecting the university’s president was flawed had their slogans and banners taken down.
The students called on the gallery and the university to determine who was responsible for approving the exhibition’s skewed content.
“To strive for truth and face our mistakes is how we should truly honor the May Fourth Movement,” the statement said.
The university yesterday issued a statement saying that it held the exhibition to commemorate the centennial anniversary of an event that had a far-and-lasting effect.
We hoped to portray the historical trends since the event was held in 1919 and portray how it affected schools at different times, the university said, adding that background information about what the May Fourth Movement was and how it affected Taiwan would enable the public to understand the scope and breadth of the “May Fourth spirit.”
The exhibition would be held at the gallery and would be open to students and the public, the university said.
The May Fourth Movement was a student-led initiative, which started on May 4, 1919, when thousands rallied in Beijing to protest stipulations in the Treaty of Versailles, specifically the passing of German interests in Shandong Province over to the Japanese.
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