Groups call for probe into professors’ language ban

CONTROL YUAN INTERVENTION:TAUP  deputy chairman Chen Li-fu said that complaints had been filed against the professors, but NTU had yet to take corrective measures

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 31, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Academics and legal experts yesterday asked the Control Yuan to investigate alleged breaches of

Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya of the Social Democratic Party, right, speaks at a news conference held in Taipei yesterday by the Taiwan Association of University Professors and the Taiwan Forever Society in response to National Taiwan University professor Jerome Geaun’s remark that speaking Hoklo is similar to smoking cigarettes.
Photo: CNA

the National Languages Development Act (國家語言發展法) at National Taiwan University (NTU), after two professors instituted a rule that school meetings must be conducted in Mandarin only.

The issue had been raised repeatedly and complaints had been filed against biology professor Shih Hsiu-hui (施秀惠) and agricultural economics professor Jerome Geaun, but NTU governing officials did not take corrective measures, Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP) deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said.

“The two NTU professors ruled to ban the speaking of Hoklo [commonly known as Taiwanese] and all other mother tongues, and use Mandarin exclusively at meetings. It is illegal… They are bullying people who speak other mother tongues and denying them their rights,” Chen said at yesterday’s media briefing.    [FULL  STORY]

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