The 2008 Class Representative Symposium took place at Chueh-sheng International Conference Hall on Dec. 11, and 294 class representatives took part. President Flora Chia-I Chang chaired the symposium and presented youth outstanding awards to 15 students. President Chang said, “A beautiful campus needs everyone’s effort! I hope all of you will give suggestions to make TKU better with a safe environment, so students can study safely here.” According to the written suggestions by students, more than 30 class representatives stated that some classrooms were dirty with garbage and in disorder. 20 representatives pointed the harmful problem of smoking in public areas, while 15 said that desks and chairs in some classrooms were old and worn out. In addition, 12 representatives exclaimed that washrooms were not clean enough. Except written questions, some representatives also asked some questions concerning campus environment, and TKU administrators answered them promptly.
Many students raised the problem of the dirty environment of some classrooms, saying that cram school fliers scattered everywhere, leftover food and soft drinks and garbage sometimes smelled. These surely affected classroom atmosphere. Transportation Management junior Ting-yun Chen pointed out, “Too many scattered fliers from cram schools make classrooms dirty and in disorder.” The Dean of General Affairs Hoang-ell Jeng pointed out, “The quantity of garbage on Mondays is usually increased sharply, and most of it is taken in by students. The more garbage there is, the dirtier the campus will be.” He further explained, “The maintenance of TKU’s clean environment depends on students’ cooperation, as our sanitarian manpower is limited. So students are reminded not to bring in fliers and food into classrooms.” Electrical Engineering Class A junior Jun-yu You suggested that class representatives should voluntarily take up the responsibility to turn off the air conditioning systems and lights in classrooms when leaving. This would not only save cost and energy but also help reduce carbon dioxide. President Chang appreciated the idea. If class representatives did it, it would be surely very good. Many students hoped that TKU would enhance management measures to completely ban smoking on campus. Business Administration junior and deputy class representative of Class A, Xiang-hao Chen pointed out, “Some people often smoke near the big terraced classrooms on the 7th floor of the Business and Management Building, and they often ignore any admonition.” Dean of the Student Affairs, Ding-an Chiang replied that Tobacco Hazard Control Act would be strictly implemented on January 11, 2009 and any smokers, No matter who, would be fined from NT$2,000 up to NT$10,000 if smoking in any no-smoking places. Detailed penalties of the Regulations are still under discussion now. Guidance Section invited students to report any violating smokers to them and they would handle the cases. Hoang-ell Jeng also invited students to report cases of broken, worn out desks and chairs, dirty and smelling washrooms to his Office. The Office would handle and repair them right away.
In addition, Japanese Class 1A class representative, Zi-an Peng said that the Maritime Museum would have an exhibition area, but the electromagnetic waves by the indoor electrical generator would affect the health of visitors. Hoang-ell Jeng replied, “No worry is necessary as the indoor electrical generator is being moved out now.”
About academic studies, Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering Class 3A representative Yan-hao Huang asked , “TKU is reducing compulsory courses by adding more selective courses in every department. Does TKU encourage Engineering students to take Chinese and history courses?” Dean of Academic Affairs, Huan-chao Keh replied, “The policy of reducing compulsory courses is for students to have more choices to take selective courses. If students study only special academic courses without taking any Chinese and history courses, life will become rather dull. As for courses that should be taught in English, some representatives mentioned that some teachers had not taught them completely in English because they worried about some students’ English proficiency. Academic Vice President Kan-nan Chen replied, “The most effective way is to tell the teacher directly.” Vice President of International Affairs Wan-chin Tai also expressed, “There are survey forms for students to fill in after they finish these courses that are supposed to be taught in English. TKU will appraise the surveys and improve according to them.” Some class representative also took part in the discussion through on-line video conference. Global Politics and Economics Class 1 representative Zhi-yuan Gao said, “If you want to learn English well, welcome to transfer to Lanyang Campus (where all courses are taught in English).” This caused laughter on both sites.
About the rights of overseas students, English Class 3A representative Meng-ying Li reflected, “Some overseas students’ Chinese is not good enough for class activities, homework and exams.” Wan-chin Tai replied, “TKU has already set a Chinese Language Group, and it will hold a meeting on January 13, 2009 to discuss if the Chinese courses for overseas students can replace core courses.” Pei-wha Lee, the Director of the Office of International Exchanges and International Education also explained, “We invite overseas students to discuss their self-adjusting problems on Wednesdays.” Some students reported that some teachers could not unify their’ teaching contents with the specialty. Dean of Foreign Languages and Literatures Mei-hwa Sung invited them to discuss the issue further after the symposium, saying, “We have inquired and discussed about it with the concerned department and will continuously try to improve, as students’ studies are the most important.” ( ~Dean X. Wang )
