While most professors do not like it when students skip classes, a professor at the National Taipei University (NTPU) not only supports his students, but also joined them yesterday when they skipped classes to stage a demonstration against school bullying.
Wearing bright orange vests and holding placards that read “No to bureaucracy,” “We want the truth” and “We want safety,” about 200 students from NTPU staged a demonstration outside the New Taipei City (新北市) Government to protest its handling of an alleged on-campus student bullying case.
The students were there to ask the city government to take action to help a mentally challenged junior-high school girl from an economically disadvantaged family who was allegedly a victim of sexual assault three years ago and who was recently a victim of bullying.
Photo: Kuo Yen-huei, Taipei Times
“We’re all NTPU students [from different majors] who have attended or are attending the ‘social service and care’ course,” a senior NTPU student surnamed Yang (楊) said at the protest.
“The girl’s family is one of the target families we have been serving for over a year and in the past few months, we’ve also accompanied the girl’s family to file petitions to different government agencies, pleading for their help,” she added.
“Unfortunately, all we’ve gotten is the same bureaucratic response over and over again,” she said.
The students first requested help from the junior-high school that the girl attends, then the New Taipei City’s Education Department, but neither were eager to handle the case.
“We then stopped [New Taipei City Mayor] Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) car outside the New Taipei City Council earlier this month and told him about it in person,” Yang said. “He promised to help, but nothing ever happened.”
The students’ lecturer, an associate professor at the NTPU’s Center of General Education, Will Chu (朱彥華), said he actually received phone calls warning him and his students not to intervene on the issue.
“This is the reason why my students decided to organize this rally,” Will Chu said. “They organized the rally via the Internet — I played no part in organizing, but I am here to show my support to them and to make sure that they are all safe.”
While midterm exams are approaching and many students are skipping classes to take part in the demonstration, Will Chu said he is supportive of what they are doing and is happy to see students willing to come out.
“Most people think that young people nowadays are apathetic and indifferent about things that are none of their business, so I am happy that so many students are here for something that has no apparent relevance to them,” he said.
“But I think the purpose of education is to educate people who care for society, who are aware of what’s going on around them and who know how to express their views and take part in social issues,” the NTPU professor added.
Though many students are -missing classes ahead of midterms, he said, “I think there are things that are more important than attending classes in education.”
Control Yuan members Chen Chien-min (陳健民) and Gau Fehng-shian (高鳳仙) were both present and said they would launch a probe into whether New Taipei City Government officials were involved in any administrative wrongdoing in the case.
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