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¡¥Martial law¡¦ still rules campus
STUDENT RIGHTS: Students face curfews enforced with roll calls, restrictions
on political activism, censorship of student articles and bans against gay or
political organizations
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Aug 26, 2010, Page 2
Curfews at dormitories, bans on demonstrations, skyrocketing
tuition and gender inequalities in school regulations are among the violations
of student rights¡¦ that are still common at schools, a group of students said
yesterday after investigating 65 universities across the country.
¡§Apparently, many schools are still under martial law, since more than 60
percent of the universities in the country still have school rules restricting
students¡¦ rights to hold assemblies and demonstrations,¡¨ Cheng Yi-chan (¾G¥ç®i), a
student at Chang Gung University¡¦s Computer Science and Information Engineering
Department and a member of the Student Rights Team, told a forum yesterday.
Cheng said his own school penalizes students with a demerit for involvement in
¡§agitation for the student movement,¡¨ while Tatung University threatens to expel
students for starting student movements or participating in petitions.
As many as 37 public and private universities across the country have some form
of penalty for students organizing or taking part in demonstrations, he said.
National Taiwan University¡¦s (NTU) medical student Chen Tsung-yen (³¯©v©µ) added he
was shocked to find that 60 percent of schools demand to see articles before
they can be published in student newspapers or magazines, while 95 percent of
the schools require approval from the school before a student organization can
be established.
¡§As a result, most gay organizations or dissident organizations often have to go
underground,¡¨ he said, adding that ¡§around 55 percent of schools impose curfew
at dorms, among which, 46 percent have the dorm administrators do a roll call at
night.¡¨
As many as 46 percent of the schools even shut off all the lights or cut the
Internet connection after curfew, Chen said.
Another member of the group, Tung Hung-chih (¸³ªl§Ó), an education major at
National Kaohsiung Normal University, said that among schools that have roll
call every night at dormitories, ¡§40 percent of them only have roll call at
female dorms.¡¨
In addition to restrictions at dormitories or on student activities, the group
is also concerned about skyrocketing tuition fees.
¡§You would think that private schools would raise their tuition more, because
public schools receive more subsidies from the government, but it¡¦s not the
case,¡¨ Cheng said. ¡§NTU and National Chengkung University (NCKU) have had the
highest tuition hikes over the past 15 years ¡X from NT$13,930 to NT$25,230, or
an 81 percent rise.¡¨
Following NTU and NCKU, National Sun Yat-sen University and National Chiaotung
University followed with 78 percent tuition hikes over the past 15 years, while
tuition at other public schools rose an average of 50 percent.
¡§But when we look at the tuition hikes at private schools, it¡¦s only around 10
to 30 percent,¡¨ Cheng said, adding that the consumer price index increased less
than 20 percent over the past 15 years.
Several professors also joined the forum to show their support.
¡§We pay too much attention to curriculum design and pumping up school rankings,
but we often forget that students should be the main focus on campus,¡¨ said Fan
Yun (S¶³), an assistant professor at NTU¡¦s Department of Sociology.
¡§Martial law was lifted more than 20 years ago, and it¡¦s quite sad that it still
exists on campus,¡¨ she said.
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