National Taiwan University (NTU) political science professor Su Hung-dah (蘇宏達) should recuse himself from leading an academic ethics committee investigating plagiarism allegations against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taoyuan mayoral candidate Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), after calling the case a “scandal” without first examining evidence, DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said yesterday.
The school on Wednesday last week said it is establishing a committee to investigate allegations against Lin that he plagiarized his master’s thesis while he was a student at NTU’s Graduate Institute of National Development, adding that the committee’s probe should take about two months to complete.
Cheng yesterday told a news conference that Su is known for making critical comments against the DPP, adding Su also said that professors at the school were afraid that an investigation would put themselves under scrutiny as well.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“Before Su made his comments in an open letter, we never questioned his qualification to serve as the convener of the ethics committee, despite his political opinions. However, Su called the case a ‘scandal’ without even looking at the evidence, nor has he spoken with Lin about the matter,” Cheng said.
“Su has prejudged Lin. As the dean of NTU College of Social Science and convener of the academic ethics committee, Su crossed a line and should recuse himself. Nobody will trust the integrity of the committee if he continues to serve as the convener,” he said.
The Principles for Handling Academic Ethics Cases in Colleges and Universities (專科以上學校學術倫理案件處理原則) and Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) state that those serving on academic ethics committees should recuse themselves when evidence shows that they could be partial in their conduct, lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said at the news conference.
“Su spoke against the DPP at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee, and how he and other committee members would rule could be controversial. He should recuse himself out of academic conscience,” Huang said.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) yesterday said the case can be fairly called a scandal because Lin Chih-chien’s thesis and the one he allegedly copied from were almost the same, even in its language mistakes.
“It is pitiful that the DPP is using its political power to put pressure on what is supposedly an independent investigation,” Lin Chia-hsing said.
“NTU economics professor Jang Show-ling (鄭秀玲), who was against the service trade agreement with China, also questioned the integrity of Lin Chih-chien’s master’s thesis. However, the DPP asked Su to recuse himself simply because he is against DPP and supports KMT. This is another example of how the DPP intervenes in the autonomy of universities,” he said.
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