National Chengchi University (NCCU) is one of the oldest and most famous universities in Taiwan and is situated on the outskirts of Taipei City. Ranked second after National Taiwan University (NTU), it is the first choice for students going into business or humanities programs. However, the university has put its fame in jeopardy by ignoring campus safety for a very long time.
On March 24, a female student was forced at knife-point to have oral sex with a male intruder in a washroom stall and then robbed. This happened during class time. Not early morning, not during the night, but in broad daylight when there were thousands of people around.
How was this possible? Simply because of the school's negligence with regard to campus safety. NCCU's campus is not in a metropolitan area like NTU's; it includes hundreds of hectares of mountains as part of the campus. In addition, the way the buildings have been constructed creates dozens of dark corners and shadowy pathways.
Washroom stalls located in dark corners have always been intimidating for female students. Since NCCU students are quite aware of these hazardous zones and have heard rumors of shady characters doing drugs near the mountains within the campus, it is therefore impossible for school officials to be ignorant of these threats to student safety.
Yet, it is obvious that they have long ignored it. At least, until before what happened last Friday.
Now they are installing alarms in washroom stalls at the building where it happened. But shouldn't this have been done a long time ago? A campus watch program for students, modifications to unsafe areas and security guards who actually watch over the entire campus rather than sit and chat in the front-entrance security office were all that was needed to prevent this tragedy. What happened to the girl was a crime, but it was an incident waiting to happen for a long time because of the school officials' negligence.
In a country where the common attitude when it comes to picking higher education institutions is to squeeze into a top-ranked university, what happened last Friday on the NCCU campus will probably not harm NCCU's long-standing reputation. However, it is time not just for NCCU officials, but also other universities to start reconsidering their roles in providing higher education.
It shouldn't just be about teaching; it's about nurturing future talent by providing a safe educational environment. Because of the educational system in Taiwan, good schools can simply sit back and wait for prospective students to come rushing in. As a result, these schools have always put student affairs last and focused on administration and attracting famous scholars.
A professor at NCCU once said that students are just transients, and this probably sums up the general attitude of all educators in Taiwan.
Certainly, this is not just a problem for NCCU, but also a problem for NTU and all other reputable universities.
As an NCCU student, I am asking all university officials to emphasize campus safety, student affairs and to take action now.
Don't wait until another tragedy happens.
Name Withheld
Taipei
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
RSS