http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/06/30/2003177117
Students protest to defend streaker
CASE OVEREXPOSED: While his fellow students railed against what they saw as a re
versal of the university president's position, the streaker just wants it all to
end
By Jewel Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004,Page 4
About a dozen students yesterday rallied in front of Formosa Plastics' (台塑) co
rporate headquarters to protest the stiff punishment imposed by Chang Gung Unive
rsity (长庚大学) on a student who streaked around a campus athletic field after
losing a bet.
The students asked the authorities to be more tolerant of young people's occasio
nally crazy behavior and to protect students' freedoms of expression and thought
. The protesters chose the rally site because the company founded the university
,
"We want to highlight this incident to show how a renowned university establishe
d by a leading enterprise in Taiwan dealt with an action that it called unaccept
able and immoral," said Hu Tien-yu (胡天又), a history major of the National Tai
wan University.
＊按：应为Hu Youtien，胡又天
Hu and the other students carried birdcages and banners reading "We support peop
le who keep their word" and "Chang Gung University is arbitrary" to express thei
r support for the student.
The streaker was punished with two major demerits, two minor demerits and "deten
tion under surveillance" for streaking after the basketball team he had bet on l
ost a game.
A major demerit would usually be applied to students who cheat on exams, steal o
r get drunk and disruptive. The protesters said the student's unclad promenade l
acked the harmful or immoral qualities of these more serious offenses.
"Unreasonable punishment will not help society to progress, nor did it help the
student reflect on his behavior," Hu said.
Hu said more students besides the protesters hoped that school officials would r
eview the student's streaking with an open mind rather than using authoritarian
attitudes in disciplining students.
Some students of other universities reportedly even suggested a boycott of Chang
Gung University, calling on students who will enter colleges this fall not to c
hoose Chang Gung and thus affect the university's ranking.
The students said the university's president, Pao Chia-chu (包家驹), went back o
n his word. Pao had said that the streaking "did not matter much" when he heard
about it, but later decided to punish the student for "hurting the school's repu
tation." The protesters said this doubletalk was inferior to keeping one's promi
se, as the student did regarding his bet.
Pao said yesterday that the university will not change its decision.
"The punishment is to let the student know that Chang Gung cannot accept such be
havior," Pao said.
The streaker said yesterday that he never expected his behavior to cause such a
huge controversy, and that he knew he had made a mistake.
"I don't think it [streaking] is something to be proud of. I don't want to be fa
mous," the student said. "I just hope the whole thing will end soon."