Chaoyang Foreigners in the News Again

The China Times had another piece on another foreigner at my university today. Again, it isn't me.

曾爆發外籍教師對學生罵髒話的朝陽科技大學，又有一名外籍教師出狀況！據指出，該校應用外語系外籍講師王馬克因涉及性騷擾學生，經學校系、院、校教評會三級三審後，決定解聘或不續聘處分。這項處分案，近日內就會送到教育部核備。

The foreign teacher, 王馬克 (I'm 麥哲恩) was the subject of an investigation over the summer for the sexual harassment charges, as the paper correctly reports. The investigation process (which I had no part in, or contact with) was, from my outsider's perspective, bending over backwards to be fair, extremely thorough, and came to conclusions I felt were substantially correct. The second paragraph notes that it was an old case that frustrated the school because the students, though they discussed that teacher's alleged behavior amongst themselves and with other teachers, including me, none would file a formal case. It's hard to understand, but in Taiwan the System is almost never proactive -- it is administrative in nature, and won't move until a case is opened by someone affected. That is true whether one is discussing the police or education.

From the standpoint of truth-value, the two cases could not be more opposite. The case I blogged on the other day (referenced above as 爆發外籍教師) is utterly exaggerated, but this one is pretty much correct, at least from my perspective. Note the underlying cultural prejudices hard at work: the intersection of sex and foreigners is just too much to resist. They're rogering our women! is a clarion call in every culture.....

[Taiwan]