PhD Princeton Professor in Taiwan Indicted for Obscenity

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

My goodness. What an absolutely stupid charge. Taiwan faculties are a hotbed of political infighting. I’m sure nasty exchanges with much more uncouth language are regular events within most faculties in Taiwan. But hey, let’s pick on a foreigner with six years of experience and good creds to make our"taike"selves feel better.

Furthermore, with universities on the island trying to internationalize, this type of incident makes Taiwan the laughing stock of the academic world. First a student is given a scholarship in Taiwan that was advertised in English, and the faculty members refuse to meet their obligations. Now a professor with a PhD from Princeton is indicted for saying “up yours” at a regional uni.

Whether it’s foreigners being unable to wear proper swimming suits at NCCU or professors from elite universities (the actual type of professors you think Taiwan would want to recruit rather than the Kho San Road paper professors–remember the South African truck driver who taught at a uni in Taiwan with a fake degree for a few years :laughing: ) being indicted for very mild obscenities, it sure gives off the message that foreigners are not welcomed at Taiwan’s universities.

With the low birth rates and declining enrollments, I hope some of these profs are forced to eat congee for their daily meal.

chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … dicted.htm

moi.gov.tw/english/News_rss. … &CtNode=39

2

Hard to say who’s the biggest idiot: the visiting professor for shouting “up yours” at the Chairman, the Chairman for filing a criminal complaint in response, the prosecutor for initiating a criminal action, or the news reporting for bungling the story so badly. End result: I really don’t care. They’re all fools and get what they deserve.

As the immortal Peachy Carnehan once said, “They’re savages here. Leave ‘em all to go back to slaughtering babies and playing stick ball with one anothers’ heads and pissing on their neighbors.”

3

Then should we turn the tables and go for any rude Chinese verbal abuse to foreigners … or should we just use acid to rinse their mouths … :loco: :bow:

4

I’m not sure if I entirely agree with you here MT. If somone accused me of stealing or not returning a cheap electrical appliance to a locked room, I’d probably tell them to “piss off” or to “mind their own fucking business.” I don’t think the man is a fool for being assertive to a person in a position of power. IF anything, such “maverick” behaviour should be applauded. Saying “up yours” or nastier insults to a Department Head is normal in academic circles IMHO. Ever socialized with uni profs in any country? Man, departmental politics are often nasty, petty, and very colorful. However, people don’t usually call in the cavalry over an “up yours” comment, especially if the person were a member of a minority. This Taiwan university is charging a minority (a foreigner) for saying “up yours.” What a joke. :laughing:

In any case, the guy should probably quite working for such a provincial, xenophobic, and petty uni as far as I am concerned. After spending 100,000s of American dollars on a top rate education, why put up with such provincial shit from a provincial university paying peanuts?

5

I’m not sure if I entirely agree with you here MT. If somone accused me of stealing or not returning a cheap electrical appliance to a locked room, I’d probably tell them to “piss off” or to “mind their own fucking business.” Saying “up yours” to a Department Head" is normal in academic circles. Ever socialized with uni profs in any country? Man, departmental politics can get nasty and people often put their foot in their mouth. They don’t often get indicted for it though. :laughing:

In any case, the guy should probably quite working for such a provincial, xenophobic, and petty uni.[/quote]

I disagree. Seems like a sign of immaturity, inexperience and weakness on the visiting prof’s part. I’ve worked plenty of stressful jobs, I’ve worked with plenty of assholes, I’ve lost it as he did many times – when I was younger – but I’ve since learned restraint. If you’re pissed off at your boss it’s inappropriate to say “up yours” to him (unless you do so as you are quitting the job and walking out the door). One can argue about the facts, but a personal attack on your boss is losing it. Just my opinion.

But I do agree that, despite the visiting prof acting childishly, the others all did likewise and it’s absurd that the matter would ever get to the police or prosecutor. Totally ludicrous.

Incidentally, the visiting prof’s creds may not be as great as you suggest in the title. He’s got a PhD in slavic languages but is teaching English. And apparently he is very young and inexperienced.

EDIT: I can’t copy and paste from THIS for some reason, but read about what happened and tell me the visiting prof didn’t lose it and act in a childish, inappropriate manner, for someone on the job who is supposedly a mature professional? Wouldn’t some other retort have been more professional?

That said, I agree 100% that the criminal charges are absurd. Taiwan’s legal system is in its infancy and the lawmakers, lawyers, judges, police and prosecutors all have many decades to go (if that) until they’ve got a mature, rational legal system with sensible laws and procedures. It’s all still new to them, so they make many stupid mistakes, such as this case.

6

Its a ridiculous waste of time for the judiciary to even hear these types of cases.

There is no defamation issue.

7

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]

I disagree. Seems like a sign of immaturity, inexperience and weakness on the visiting prof’s part. I’ve worked plenty of stressful jobs, I’ve worked with plenty of assholes, I’ve lost it as he did many times – when I was younger – but I’ve since learned restraint. If you’re pissed off at your boss it’s inappropriate to say “up yours” to him (unless you do so as you are quitting the job and walking out the door). One can argue about the facts, but a personal attack on your boss is losing it. Just my opinion.

But I do agree that, despite the visiting prof acting childishly, the others all did likewise and it’s absurd that the matter would ever get to the police or prosecutor. Totally ludicrous.

Incidentally, the visiting prof’s creds may not be as great as you suggest in the title. He’s got a PhD in slavic languages but is teaching English. And apparently he is very young and inexperienced.

EDIT: I can’t copy and paste from THIS for some reason, but read about what happened and tell me the visiting prof didn’t lose it and act in a childish, inappropriate manner, for someone on the job who is supposedly a mature professional? Wouldn’t some other retort have been more professional?

That said, I agree 100% that the criminal charges are absurd. Taiwan’s legal system is in its infancy and the lawmakers, lawyers, judges, police and prosecutors all have many decades to go (if that) until they’ve got a mature, rational legal system with sensible laws and procedures. It’s all still new to them, so they make many stupid mistakes, such as this case.[/quote]

I’ve lost it a few times as well. I think a lot of people starting out in their working careers in high-pressured jobs do. However, it was always bosses with strong leadership qualities (bosses that mentored me or took me in as a protege) that helped me grow and taught me to handle future situations in a more appropriate way. If he is as young as you say he is, surely responding in such a way is forgivable under the circumstances. If the Department Head is playing such petty games with foreigners, what does it say for the leadership structure at the university? On the other hand, the article mentioned that the Department Head left his job. Perhaps there are some level-headed leaders at that university after all. They realized how the Department Head was making a mountain out of a molehill and showed him the door. However, the PR damage to the university is probably already done. Would be interesting to hear the whole story.

8

Ha - Michael Turton blogged about this a few days ago, and it was also reported in the Liberty Times. Turton pointed out this quote from the plaintiff, and I agree - it’s a winner:

[quote]周曉青表示，提告並非排外、仇外，也不是為了要報復，而是希望藉此嚴正要求外籍老師絕不能對同事或學生使用語言暴力，更希望有關單位能正視外國人在台灣產生的負面情緒或不當行徑的問題。

Zhou Shaoqing said that the suit was not a rejection of foreigners or prejudice, nor was it about revenge, but in the hope that through this, it would be seriously demanded that foreign teachers not speak to their coworkers or students using violent language, and also that the authorities should pay attention to the negative mood produced by, and inappropriate behavior of, foreigners in Taiwan.[/quote]
So she’s not racist or anything, but would the authorities please pay attention to the “negative mood” foreigners produce in Taiwan! :roflmao:

9

His PhD thesis is online. The acknowledgements section contains some personal info. Comes from an old missionary family that served in Asia and he thanks his mom and grandparents. Certainly doesn’t seem like the type of person that would put a negative mood on anyone.

[quote=“Thesis”]
The aforementioned institutions and people were the result of my own
decisions to pursue a Slavic-linguistics career. The following people, however, made
even more fundamental decisions long before I was able to choose such a path. Were
it not for the intellectual values of my father David Elliott Billings and his mother Ina
Eunice Elliott Billings, two people of humble logging and farming roots, I would not
have been motivated to seek a higher degree. A letter from her encouraging him not
to attend law school was also vital to what I am today. Likewise, were it not for three
generations of missionary forbears in the provinces of China and the Philippines, and
the expressed desire of my mother, Ruth Louise Allen Billings, that I not attend
linguistically isolated boarding schools early on, I would not have had the
international and bilingual background that has enabled me to analyze human
language as an adult. Of these, only one person survives for me to thank personally.
Thanks mom [/quote]

roa.rutgers.edu/files/876-1006/8 … GS-0-0.PDF

10

What’s not mentioned is the no doubt months of bone numbingly tedious bureaucratic pettiness the dickwad - oops, did I defame him? - head of dept showered on this poor bastard until the vacuum cleaner “incident”.

Another strong argument for retrospective abortion. In the interim, strip this stupid Chow fucker of all academic awards, because clearly having a brainless twat like that around is a clear liability for the reputation of Taiwan academia.

HG

11

HGC, you’re in HKG, right, beyond the reach of provincial law?

12

This is what happens when people assume that their personal feelings are codified in law. I can just imagine how this is going to end up if this dangerous, anti-free speech attitude become implanted in an increasingly litigious society:

“How come you’re not talking to me?!”

“Because you might sue me if you don’t like what I say.”

“How dare you imply that about me! I’m suing!”

13

The Department Head, who still teachers there but is no longer head of the department as far as I can understand, has a webpage and a profile below. With his interest in Christian poetics and the other prof’s family history of missionary work, you would think they’d hit it off.

flld.ncnu.edu.tw/flld2004/teacher.asp?no=4
staffweb.ncnu.edu.tw/paulchow/

14

I’m in Taiwan today and tomorrow, so they’ve got until then.

HG

15

His webpage suggests otherwise. Lots of international experience. Exactly the kind of academic Taiwan should be trying to attract.

Institution 單位/Department 職稱/Title 起迄/Duration
National Chi Nan University (Taiwan) Foreign Languages and Literature Associate Professor
Aug. 2002 ~ present
Providence University (Taiwan) English Language, Literature and Linguistics Assistant Professor
Aug. 2001 July 2002
Khon Kaen University (Thailand) Foreign Languages Instructor
May 2001 Aug. 2001
King Mongkut’s University of Technology-Thonburi (Thailand) Applied Linguistics Instructor
June 2000 May 2001
University of Colorado-Boulder (U.S.A.) Linguistics Instructor
Aug. 1999 May 2000
Consultis of Austin (U.S.A.) N/A Technical Writer/Research Associate
May 1998 Aug. 1999
Carnegie Mellon University (U.S.A.) Language Technologies Institute Consultant
Jan. 1998 May 1998
Universitaet Leipzig (Germany) Institut fuer Slavistik Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter
Oct. 1996 Dec. 1997
Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin (Germany) Zentrum fAllgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung Gastwissenschaftler
June 1996 Aug. 1996
Florida State University (U.S.A.) Modern Languages and Linguistics Visiting Assistant Professor
Aug. 1995 May 1996
Brandeis University (U.S.A.) Psychology Research Assistant
June 1995 Aug. 1995
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick (U.S.A.) Russian and East European Languages and Literatures Part-time lecturer
Aug. 1994 May 1995
Brandeis University (U.S.A.) Psychology Research Assistant
June 1994 Aug. 1994
Johns Hopkins University (U.S.A.) National Foreign Language Center Research Assistant
June 1991 Aug. 1991
University of Maryland-College Park (U.S.A.) Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures Graduate Teaching Assistant
Aug. 1988 May 1991

flld.ncnu.edu.tw/flld2004/teacher.asp?no=8

16

I saw this article in the Apple a couple of days ago.

To me, the more interesting quote was the Taiwanese professor claiming that the American professor said, “You are the most barbaric Chinese!” Clearly an American wouldn’t use such Chinglish grammar, so is he being misquoted or is this quote being completely fabricated? I’m leaning towards the latter, since I’d imagine if an American were to have a true meltdown, the last thing they’d call a Taiwanese person is Chinese.

Also, according to the Apple, Billings admitted to the police that he said “up yours” to the Taiwanese professor, but what he meant was “up to you,” which again is a load of bollocks. Did he really say “up to you” and is being misquoted, or did he really say “up yours” and is trying to wiggle out of it?

17

Sounds kind of similar to the wording on his “course purpose” page for his English conversation course.

staffweb.ncnu.edu.tw/paulchow/en … /index.htm

18

[quote=“Chewycorns”] With his interest in Christian poetics and the other prof’s family history of missionary work, you would think they’d hit it off.

[/quote]

Maybe they had different missionary positions.

I’d love to be a judge. I could get through about 500 of these court cases a day.
“NEXT!”

19

if he objects, HGC, I’ll have to remove your post, but i think you’re in HK, so the defamation laws may not apply.

and as far as the professor’s resume looks, i would guess from it that he has trouble keeping a job down, anywhere… nowhere longer than a year, usually three to six months. traveller? itinerant labourer?

20

So, you’re saying it’s the same here as everywhere else? A good friend and former roommate of mine earned his PhD, and is an Assistant or Associate Prof of English in the US and has complained to me heartily about all the petty, bureaucratic crap one has to put up with to hold on to ones job and move up in academia. I was telling him how envious I was of his summer vacations and he was explaining how he pays for them in spades with all the bureaucratic BS.