Three former National Taiwan University (NTU) presidents yesterday criticized the government for not approving the appointment of NTU president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) and undermining university autonomy.
It has been almost 50 days since the ministry received documents about Kuan’s election and the delayed appointment has caused great anxiety among faculty, students and alumni alike, former university president Sun Chen (孫震) said at a Lunar New Year event hosted by the university.
Kuan was originally scheduled to take office on Feb. 1, but the Ministry of Education put his appointment on hold due to allegations of plagiarism and a conflict of interest that cast doubt over his eligibility.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Sun blamed President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) — an NTU alumnus — for Kuan’s delayed appointment and said that every major policy her administration has promoted “has been damaging to the nation.”
“Is her next step aimed at causing damage to her own school? Or Taiwan’s academia, including all 21 members on the NTU presidential selection committee?” Sun asked.
The Tsai administration has already lost credibility because of its poor policies and it is now risking losing more trust and respect from the public by not approving Kuan’s appointment, he said.
Former university president Chen Wei-jao (陳維昭), who doubles as convener of the school’s presidential selection committee, said the ministry was disregarding regulations and disrespecting university autonomy.
“This is the darkest time for university democracy and academic freedom,” he said. “We must work together to safeguard academic freedom and eventually the school shall triumph.”
The university should preserve documents related to the election to preserve this moment in its history, he added.
Former university president Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔) called on Tsai to stop the education ministry from interfering with university autonomy and abusing its power.
“The ministry has tortured NTU for more than a month,” he said, adding that university autonomy was “on the verge on dying.”
Former university president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), who stepped down in June last year after he became embroiled in an academic fraud scandal, did not explicitly comment on the election, but said that he hoped the university could soon “leave all its troubles behind.”
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