New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) yesterday called for the recusal of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) from the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee, saying that Cheng is facing allegations of plagiarism and could be the subject of a Ministry of Education investigation.
Cheng, together with the KMT, should issue a public apology to Hsinchu County voters, Hsu said at a news conference in Taipei.
Former NPP legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said at a news conference last week that Cheng had plagiarized 50 percent of his doctoral thesis at Chung Hwa University.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The NPP is calling out Cheng, because the university has said it would only look into the matter if there is proof, unlike National Sun Yat-sen University, which is actively looking into claims of plagiarism against KMT Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate Jane Lee (李眉蓁), Hsu said.
Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media on Thursday last week said that Lee plagiarized 96 percent of her master’s thesis.
Whether Cheng’s thesis is valid has brought his title of assistant professor into question, Hsu said, adding that he suspects Chung Hwa University has cut corners when reviewing Cheng’s paper.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for conferring the title of assistant professor on academics after three separate reviews by the institution they are enrolled in, Hsu said.
Cheng being granted the position could be an indication that the university had not duly reviewed his credentials, Hsu said, calling on the ministry to investigate the matter.
Hsu added that Cheng should recuse himself from the legislature’s standing committee, as his presence on the committee could hinder the ministry from launching an investigation.
He said this move would follow precedents of legislators being barred from joining the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee if they are involved in ongoing legal cases.
Chung Hwa University, cofounded in 1990 by former Hsinchu mayor Lin Cheng-tze (林政則), appears to be a favorite of politicians and businesspeople in the Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli area, NPP Hsinchu City Councilor Liao Tzu-chi (廖子齊) said.
As Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) and Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) obtained their degrees from Chung Hwa University, the public might also question the authenticity of their theses, Liao said.
Soochow University School of Law professor Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) said that ultimately, it is up to the ministry to resolve the issue because it is all interconnected.
The validity of academic degrees is based on the Degree Conferral Act (學位授予法) and per Article 17 of the act, any act of plagiarism will result in the revocation of the degree, Hu said, adding that the title of assistant professor is conferred by the ministry, which is based on the validity of the individual’s doctoral thesis.
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