The Ministry of Education yesterday said it is to hand over Deputy Minister of Education Benson Yeh’s (葉丙成) handling of a gender inequity case at National Taiwan University (NTU) to the Gender Equity Education Committee for a formal investigation.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators from the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee in a joint statement yesterday morning condemned the ministry’s response to the case as deeply unprofessional and lacking oversight, demanding an external investigation by the equity committee.
Yeh last month on Facebook allegedly disclosed details of the case, gave personal commentary and risked exposing the identity of the student involved.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The ministry said the equity committee, consisting of independent experts, would conduct an impartial investigation.
Yeh, also a professor at NTU’s Department of Electrical Engineering, shared a post on Facebook on April 21 containing screenshots of WeChat messages that allegedly disclosed sensitive information.
He has since edited the post and removed or censored the screenshots, but the affected student said in the comments: “Surely you know that campus safety reports must be kept confidential?”
The post amassed more than 12,000 reactions and 700 comments, with many asking him to apologize.
“In the future, I will make a clearer distinction between my role as professor and deputy minister,” he said, in a comment.
The lawmakers said that in a separate case last year, the Control Yuan found that NTU had failed to protect students after a sexual harassment incident was exposed, which led to safety concerns for the student involved.
Following the investigation, the ministry and NTU were issued corrective actions, they said.
However, the ministry has failed to implement these corrections or supervise NTU in improving its systems and procedures, leaving students in an “unsafe learning environment,” they said.
In response to the inequity case, DPP members of the Education and Culture Committee said they twice sent formal letters to the ministry to call for an investigation, on April 25 and May 9.
The ministry has since failed to recognize the seriousness of the incident or release details of the personnel involved, they said.
According to Article 41 of the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法), the ministry is required to clearly explain its investigation process and disclose whether conflict-of-interest protocols were followed, they said.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS