4/15/2014
Department of International Affairs - Democratic Progressive Party
On
April 11, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Youth
Development Director Chang Chi-Chang and
Assistant Director Chou Yu-Hsiu
held a press conference on a recent incidence
that occurred on the campus of National
Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA). Presenting
photographic evidence, they revealed numerous police vans and
baton-wielding police officers descending upon the university’s
campus in large numbers, allegedly with the consent of the
university's administration, in an attempt to intimidate student
demonstrators.
Chang Chi-Chang
expressed that since the Sunflower Movement
announced the end of its occupation of the Legislative Yuan,
several controversial incidents have occurred
on the university campus. In these cases, school authorities
threatened to punish students who
participated in the demonstrations. Another
controversial incident happened on April 7. After
dedicating 3 days to create a sunflower sculpture and walking over 4
hours to deliver it to the Legislative Yuan, the students were
stunned that the school had allowed the police onto the campus while
they were away. This not only exemplifies intimidation, but also
violates the school’s autonomy.
Chou Yu-Hsiu,
an NTUA alumnus, recounted how he actively
participated in social issues while attending NTUA as a student
there. As the oldest art academy
in the country, the school was known to prioritize student
involvement in social issues along with their involvement in art.
However, Chou became disappointed with the school’s contradiction
in allowing the recent incident to occur while apparently celebrating
academic freedom
and artistic expression
at the same time. Citing an incident
that occurred on April 6, 1949 in which then National Taiwan
University President Fu Ssu-Nien challenged then Reserve Command
General Peng Meng-Ci to a showdown should General Peng cause any of
his students to bleed in the KMT’s crackdown on political dissent,
Chou questioned whether NTUA President Yung-Chen Hsieh would just
passively sit in a nice air conditioned room while the police harmed
his students.
During
the press conference, NTUA students who witnessed the incident
provided accounts via the internet.
According to these accounts, the intimidation
brought on by the presence of baton-wielding police officers
discouraged students from gathering for demonstrations. The officers
later headed towards the Department of Sculpture. With
grim smiles, the students recounted how the
police claimed to direct traffic while used digital video recorders
to collect information on participants instead. Chou Yu-Hsiu
passionately argued that if President Hsieh failed to notice the
police presence on campus, then he lacked the capability to be an
administrative chief. If the police informed him and yet he still
approved the action, then he lacks the qualification to be president.
Either way, he should be removed from his post. Feeling ashamed of
being an NTUA alumnus, Chou called on President Hsieh to explain the
situation.
Director Chang Chi-Chang
requested Jiang Wei-Ning of the Minister of
Education to explain whether or not he pressured the school.
The Ministry of Education clearly stated back
on February 23, 2013 that police cannot enter onto
a school campus without the consent of that school’s administrators
while conducting criminal investigation cases. The
massive police presence in light of a simple and non-violent
demonstration amounted to overkill. Questions have been called whether Chief Wang Cho-Chun of the National Police Agent is justified in taking
such drastic actions against the students after cracking down
on the student demonstrations during the night
of March 23. Chang demanded that
Minister Jiang explain why such an
absurd response happened on a university
campus.
