The National Taiwan University (NTU) Student Association yesterday accused university officials of refusing to provide it with the student roster it says it needs to hold its elections.
Elections for the National Taiwan University Student Congress — the association’s legislative branch — are held in May and December each year, association president Tu Chun-ching(凃峻清) said.
According to Article 33 of the University Act (大學法), institutes should provide guidance in the formation of a student association or other self-governing organizations elected by the entire student body, Tu said.
Photo: CNA
However, citing concerns that providing a roster would contravene the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the university has “repeatedly refused to provide the student association with the voter roster it needs for its elections,” he said.
The only way the association can hold its elections is with the roster, he said, adding that the information the association is requesting includes student names, ID numbers and departments.
“Not one [of the university’s offices] is willing to take responsibility and make a decision, make a judgement, make a promise to give or not to give” the association a roster, Tu said.
National Taiwan University has asked the association to use other means to conduct the elections — such as asking students to present polling staff with proof of enrollment or using the university’s online system to vote, he said.
However, the association believes such means would be unable to guarantee ballot secrecy or a fair election, he said.
For the past three or four years, the association has verified identification electronically by swiping ID cards, he said.
However, the university’s network has “crashed multiple times,” resulting in elections being interrupted or declared void, Tu said.
After the association’s election committee guaranteed that it would follow confidentiality procedures, the university was still unwilling to provide it with the roster, he said.
“In doing so, [NTU] is obstructing the elections and returning the campus back to the authoritarian era of 30 years ago,” he added.
Fan Yun (范雲), an NTU professor of sociology who was president of the association 30 years ago, said she regretted that after Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) became NTU president, “it has returned to how it was 30 years ago.”
University autonomy is a common value and protected by law, Fan said.
“It is a shame that President Kuan called for university autonomy every day while he was fighting for his own authority, but after he became NTU president he openly violated the University Act,” she said.
Later yesterday, Lo Ching-shui (羅清水), director-general of the Ministry of Education’s Youth Development Administration, said that the ministry would ask NTU to respect the association’s resolution “on the basis of the University Act.”
It would ask it to “discuss a feasible plan with the students and to provide them with the assistance they need,” Lo said.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
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