After attending the opening ceremony of Hsuehshan Tunnel on June 16, Dr. Clement Chang, the Founder and Dr. Flora Chang, the President of TKU, came by the Lanyang Campus to deliver the good news personally that it would take only 50 minutes from Lanyang to Taipei Campus. They were welcome by Lanyang’s Youth Ambassadors of Good Will upon their arrival who led them and other accompanying guests such as the former governor of Yi-lan County, Lee Fong-ming and the CEO, Mr. Luo Shui-mu, of Taiwan’s homegrown shoes giant, Aso, who is also a native of Yi-lan to tour the campus. All guests were impressed by Tamkang’s efforts in making the campus so attractive in such a short time and congratulated the Founder on fulfilling his promise of setting up a university in Yi-lan.
The Founder used this unique opportunity not only to share the historical moment of opening the tunnel with the students and all others on campus, but also explain its significance to TKU’s future. With the tunnel, he points out, a greater mobility can be facilitated among Tamsui, Taipei, and Lanyang Campuses, which in turn will ensure an equal share of recourses and activities.
No one, of course, was more excited than those faculty members and students at Lanyang campus about this prospect on this unusual day. For example, Prof. Tsai Jeng Yan, the Chair of the Department of the Software Engineering, said that as he had to drive to an oral defense for one of his students in Taipei in the afternoon, with the possibility of taking the tunnel, he felt rather relaxed about the journey and the time necessary for it. Prof. Cheng Chin Mo from the Department of Global Politics and Economics, similarly, was also thrilled about getting to other campuses quickly. He mentioned the hassles he had to go through when he took 8 students to Tamsui for a speech by Lu Hsiu Lien, the Vice President of Taiwan, some weeks ago. Now with the tunnel, it will be much easier for him to take more students to other campuses for interesting events on a regular basis.
When things are equally shared and exchanged, an integration of all campuses can be brought about. Dr. Clement Chang emphasizes that even though Lanyang has its distinctive system, it is still an integral part of Tamkang University and thus its development should synchronize with that of Tamsui.
To enhance such a bond, Lanyang’s students will go to Tamsui to attend semester opening ceremony as well as graduation ceremony. They will have to go through all the procedures as Tamsui’s students, which include climbing the Ke Nan Steps at semester opening and Five-Tiger Steps at graduation. Furthermore, all the 200 strong student clubs at Tamsui Campus will have to hold certain activities at Lanyang each semester; university’s key meetings will also alternate to take place at either campus.
