LOFTY AMBITIONS:Going on a mountain-climbing trek is required by the Leadership Development Program, but this year students have to seek business sponsorships

Taipei Times
Date:  Jun 24, 2015　
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

A petition by 25 National Taiwan University (NTU) students seeking NT$500,000 in sponsorship to finance a climb of Nanhu Mountain (南湖大山) in Taichung has sparked a public furor with its wording, with critics calling them arrogant and elitist, while a school official defended them.

The students, who are all in the school’s Leadership Development Program, published their sponsorship proposal online, detailing a 10-day plan to scale the mountain to improve their leadership and teamwork abilities.

Their NT$500,000 budget includes NT$250,000 for mountaineering equipment.

Included in the rationale for the sponsorship proposal was the sentence: “Many of us will undoubtedly play influential roles in Taiwanese society.”

Leadership Development Program deputy director Chu Shi-wei (朱士維) yesterday said there was nothing wrong with the students being confident, adding that the group was not seeking crowdfunding, but business sponsorship.     [FULL  STORY]