On January 30, seven officials of the Public Health Bureau, including Director Ming-neng Hsu, joined in the “Forum on the Project of Demonstrating Healthy and Safe Campus” hosted by the Vice President for Administrative Affairs, Dr. Kao Po-yuan. The convener of the project, Dr. Kao asserted that maintaining campus security is one of TKU’s ongoing efforts, and it is also the groundwork of a healthy city. Dr. Jeng Hoang-ell, Associate Professor of the Department of Architecture, who takes charge of the design and communication of the project, expresses that: “I hope such a cooperative project will sustain the school’s health and security.” Furthermore, he indicates that so far there are six schools that passed the international campus safety assessment, including National Hualien Senior High School, Kangle Elementary School of Hualien County, Fengbin Elementary School, Chengde Elementary School of Taipei County, Dongao Elementary School of Yilan County, and Dongshi Elementary School of Taichung County. There is no any university campus that passes this international assessment. Tamkang may become the first one in the world if we pass assessment in 2009.

The forum began with TKU’s campus briefing, and followed by the explanation of the project by the Section Chief of the Department of Health, Shu-li Chia. She pointed out that the campus safety is the basis of the community safety. Tamkang University plays an important role in the social structure of Tamsui, and has kept a profound relationship with the township. Tamsui is expected to become the fourth healthy city following the Taipei City, Hualien City, and Tainan City. During the forum, Dr. Kao also showed that this project is in accordance with our objectives on friendly campus, environmental security and non-smoking environment. The Project of Healthy and Safe Campus is one of our devoted objectives as well. The attendants of the forum include Director of the Office of Physical Education, Hsing-chu Hsieh, Section Chief of the Counseling Section, Yen-wei Hu, Section Chief of the Guidance Section, Kao Yan-yu, Section Chief of the Sanitation and Fitness Section, Yuan-an Tan, and Section Chief of the Traffic Control and Security Section, Shiau Ren-jye.

The programs cooperated with Taipei County Government include establishing project committee, setting annual project, dividing labor into teams, and reporting the project periodically, building up system of monitoring the accidental injury in campus. The project is expected to apply for the “School Safety Assessment” in 2009. The preparatory committee will start to function at the beginning of March; Dr. Kao expects all teams to set up strategy and targets to reach the expected goal once the external resources are integrated. ( ~Karen Chang )