National Sun Yat-sen University yesterday launched an online platform that allows students to express their opinions about the removal of Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) statues from the campus.
With increased student support for transitional justice, and after several instances of vandalism, the university in February formed an committee to help it determine the fate of its Chiang statues because it wanted to respect student’s opinions, university dean Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said.
By launching the platform, called iConcern, the university hopes to act in the spirit of democracy and simultaneously solve a long-standing controversy, Cheng said, adding that the university hopes that the platform would offer alternatives to either “remove” or “keep” the statues.
Photo: Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
Political science professor Liao Ta-chi (廖達琪), who helped create the platform, said that iConcern seeks to engage all stakeholders at the university and stimulate civic engagement from students.
The platform discusses different options for what to do with the statues through an exploration of the university’s history, political context, philosophy and campus aesthetics and asks participants to consider arguments for and against removal, Liao said.
Unlike other online platforms that are primarily designed to “solve problems,” Liao said the iConcern platform hopes to stimulate rational debate.
She said she had invited all universities that agree with the democratic ideals embodied by the platform to help popularize its use.
To encourage students to share their opinions, the university’s Student Affairs Division announced that any student writing a post of more than 300 words would be awarded one point.
Students who collect four points are allowed to skip one session of the university’s mandatory general education lectures, while those who accumulate more than eight points would be eligible for a lottery draw.
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