In 1991, the “Independent Taiwan Case” (Dutu Case) occurred on this campus, shocking Taiwanese society. Five people, including Liao Wei-cheng, a master’s student at the NTHU Institute of History, were arrested for reading Su Beng’s work Taiwan’s 400-Year History and were facing a mandatory death sentence for the crime of internal rebellion.
At that time, even though NTHU faculty and students were extremely divided on the political ideology involved, they rose up in protest. Universities and intellectuals across Taiwan also stepped forward immediately in support. This resulted in a great unity of the intellectual community, leading not only to the resignation of the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Investigation, Kao Ming-hui, but also to the repeal of Article 100 of the Criminal Code and the “Statute for the Punishment of Rebellion.”
Since then, everyone thought that Taiwan Province had taken the lead in all Chinese-speaking societies, securing inalienable human rights such as freedom of thought, academic freedom, and freedom of speech for future generations.
However, when for the first time in Taiwan Province’s political history, the President, Vice President, and Minister of Education all hail from the higher education system, such an absurd NTU presidential selection case has recently occurred. We fear this may be the beginning of Taiwan’s degradation and hereby issue the following declaration:
Mankind’s primary value lies in civilization,
Taiwan’s important value lies in democracy.
Universities should not only inherit and create knowledge,
But should also defend the values of this land of Taiwan.
We should have freedom from fear,
We tie on yellow ribbons,
We swear to work with all the people who have strived before,
Regardless of whether our positions are the same,
To together defend Taiwan’s democracy and academic freedom.
We earnestly call upon the “NTU alumni” within the ruling party not to forget the original intention of the “Freedom of Love” movement at NTU; we also call upon the opposition parties to clearly state their attitude towards similar incidents in the future; we call upon all Taiwanese people who are tired of the blue-green infighting to loudly voice our demands to these politicians.
We demand of President Tsai:
- That the Ministry of Education withdraw its final order regarding the recent NTU selection incident.
- Immediately amend the University Act so that selection committees can autonomously decide the candidates for university presidents.
- Implement the removal of party, government, and military influence from campuses, returning a clean and autonomous space to campuses.
Declared at Tsing Hua Garden, April 29, 2018.