Deputy Minister of Education Benson Yeh (葉丙成) yesterday announced his resignation, hours after the ministry’s Gender Equity Education Committee acquitted him of sexual discrimination allegations.
Yeh became embroiled in controversy after commenting on a sexual harassment investigation at National Taiwan University (NTU) in a Facebook post on April 21, which included a screenshot of a sensitive conversation.
Although Yeh blurred out identifying information in the screenshot to protect the relevant parties’ privacy, enough details remained that zooming into the image revealed the name of the alleged victim.
Photo: Taipei Times
The alleged victim made multiple public demands for Yeh to delete the post and issue an apology, which he did not comply with until the ministry on May 21 launched a Gender Equity Education Committee inquiry into his conduct.
Yeh, who is also an NTU professor, has since been placed on leave.
The committee findings — which the ministry made public at midday yesterday — stated that Yeh had acted within the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法), since the post was not made to exert pressure on the alleged victim for discriminatory purposes.
However, Yeh’s exposure of the victim’s identity and acquisition of records that he did not obtain via proper channels potentially constituted breaches of digital privacy protection laws and rules on handling government information, it said.
The committee does not investigate matters that lie outside of its scope, but prosecutors and affected parties could expect the ministry’s cooperation should they decide to pursue these other matters, it said.
The ministry would launch a separate probe into Yeh’s conduct to determine whether he breached regulations governing the civil service by causing reputational harm to the service and the government, it added.
NTU also needs to suspend the dorm clerk, who had been accused of sexual harassment by the victim, to protect the student from being contacted before the legal proceedings are completed, the committee said, adding that the ongoing appeal filed by the student over the university’s dismissal of the sexual harassment complaints has reached the Taipei High Administrative Court.
Yeh in a statement said that he deeply regrets causing social turmoil and that he would take responsibility for the truth as revealed by the committee’s investigation.
“I am sorry about the incident’s impact on society and [my] work. I will learn from this and be more cautious about how I conduct myself. Thank you,” he said.
NTU is urged to provide all necessary well-being and academic resources to facilitate the alleged victim’s speedy recovery and successful completion of required coursework, he added.
Yeh said he had already tendered his resignation to Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) to avoid disrupting the ministry’s business and distressing the alleged victim any further.
Cheng in a separate statement said that he respected Yeh’s decision to resign, while noting his passion for education and work on policies of nurturing talent in artificial intelligence and revamping the vocational school system since taking up the deputy minister post in May last year.
The university said it is providing the student with the academic, counseling and administrative assistance she needs to complete her degree.
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