《TAIPEI TIMES》 NTHU president apologizes for job hunt

National Tsing Hua University president John Kao speaks at the university in Hsinchu yesterday. Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times

NO MANOA: Critics said that John Kao’s pursuit of a role at a university in the US brought into question his honesty, but defenders said that it was a private matter

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

National Tsing Hua University （NTHU） president John Kao （高為元） yesterday apologized for applying to become chancellor of a US university just three days after being confirmed for a second term at the Taiwanese institution in May, vowing to donate his monthly salary every May for the remainder of his term to refurbish student dormitories and make amends.

Kao was not offered the position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, despite being shortlisted with two other candidates.

He apologized over the incident in front of about 300 faculty members and students attending an explanatory session on campus, but it drew mixed reactions.

Lin Burn-jeng （林本堅）, dean of the Semiconductor Research College, and Huang Yi-long （黃一農）, a professor of history, said that what Kao did was a matter of trust and honesty, which are now in question.

As the issue could affect NTHU’s operations, its administrators should reconsider Kao’s qualifications for the post so that the university can move forward from the incident, Lin and Huang said.

Former NTHU president Tai Nyan-hwa （戴念華） and other professors and alumni defended Kao and affirmed his contributions to the university during his first term, saying that his job search in the US was a private matter.

Whether Kao is honest and trustworthy should be judged by the way he handles NTHU affairs, rather than how he conducts personal matters, they said.

NTHU chief secretary Chan Hung-lin （詹鴻霖） and vice president Lu Ping-chiang （呂平江） said that the university would convene supervisory board and university council meetings to determine whether Kao should continue serving as president.

The next university council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 20.

Kao’s application for the position in the US sparked criticism following a report by the Liberty Times （sister paper of the Taipei Times） in July.

Prior to yesterday’s session, Kao issued a letter last month, in which he said that he was deeply sorry for the inconvenience and unease caused by the news of his job hunting in the US and the public discussion of the matter.

“Recruitment and headhunting are common in higher education and in the business sector. However, it is rare for a university overseas to seek out a sitting university president in Taiwan. When such an opportunity arose, it did pique my curiosity. This reflected my insufficient understanding of the differences between workplace cultures in the East and the West,” he said in the letter.

In his speech yesterday, Kao again apologized, saying that he had experienced the most difficult time in his academic career in the past month.

He said that his failure to think matters through carefully has hurt those who believe in him and made the university the subject of gossip.

He let people in the NTHU community down by overlooking the distinctiveness of his duty as president and by beginning to seek other career possibilities during just the initial stage of the second term, he said.

His visit to the Manoa campus was to learn more about the US university’s expectations of him and vice versa, he said, adding that there was no further development afterward, nor did the UH Manoa hold a final vote on whether he should be recruited.

“NTHU did not know I would be given a job offer from another university when they voted to confirm my second term,” Kao said. “I cannot simply ask for your understanding and forgiveness with excuses of curiosity and cultural differences. My previous response to this incident was short and disappointing. This university is where people have dreams and aspirations, and one cannot simply come and go as they please.”

He would fully cooperate with the NTHU investigation, he added.