After the National Taiwan University (NTU) presidential selection resulted in Kuan Chung-ming, the frequently active Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan People’s Party faced accusations of extending political hands into campus autonomy, interfering with academic freedom.
🎓 NTU Faculty Alliance’s Anger and Action
The “NTU Self-Governance Action Alliance” composed of NTU professors stated that the DPP’s political pressure had excessively interfered with the appointment of NTU’s new president, triggering substantial campus anger.
In response, NTU professors and alumni spontaneously initiated a “Protesting Political Interference in NTU, Defending University Autonomy” petition, hoping to convince the DPP and President Tsai Ing-wen to stop continuously undermining democratic values.
The petition received widespread support:
- Over 40 Academia Sinica fellows participated.
- More than 4,000 NTU faculty, students, and alumni signed the petition.
The petition statement and signatures will immediately be sent to Republic of China President Tsai Ing-wen.
📜 Key Points of the Statement to President Tsai
The statement emphasizes that because NTU’s late former president Fu Sze-yuan upheld university autonomy, NTU and Taiwan’s universities remain more open and free than society, driving Taiwan’s democratization and liberalization movements. The statement stresses:
Without university autonomy, there would be no subsequent off-party elections, no democratic movements before and after martial law’s lifting, and no President Tsai Ing-wen today.
The petition further indicates that since January 5 when NTU lawfully selected its new president, supervisory officials appointed by President Tsai, DPP and Taiwan People’s Party legislators, and pro-green media have forced political interference into academic freedom.
NTU solemnly declares: University autonomy is NTU’s core value, not to be compromised.