Commentary and book recommendation for the 2018 National Taiwan University presidential selection incident, known as the 'Kuan Chung-min Incident.' The DPP government and its Control Yuan crudely interfered with university autonomy, fabricating charges through political and media power to destroy Kuan Chung-min's character. Yang Du's book, 'The Backbone of the University,' serves as historical material recording the truth of this political persecution.
This article examines the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) intervention in National Taiwan University's (NTU) autonomy, analyzing its implications for academic freedom and governance.
Faculty and students of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) released the '429 Declaration' regarding the 2018 NTU presidential selection case (the Kuan Chung-ming case). The declaration recalls how the 1991 'Independent Taiwan Case' (Dutu案) fostered freedom of thought and academia, and expresses deep concern that despite the President, Vice President, and Minister of Education all hailing from higher education backgrounds, such an absurd selection case still occurred at NTU, seeing it as a potential degradation of Taiwan's democracy. It emphasizes that mankind's primary value lies in civilization and Taiwan's in democracy, and that universities should defend these values. Finally, it presents three demands to President Tsai, including withdrawing the decision on NTU's selection, amending the University Act to allow selection committees to autonomously decide presidents, and implementing the removal of party, government, and military influence from campuses.
After Kuan Chung-ming was selected as NTU president, the DPP and Taiwan People's Party faced accusations of extending 'political hands into campus governance,' interfering with academic freedom. Over 40 Academia Sinica fellows and 4,000+ NTU faculty, students and alumni launched a petition demanding President Tsai Ing-wen stop undermining democratic values and academic freedom.