“If a faculty member should like to resign during the school year, it would seriously affect students’ benefits; it would also constitute a delinquency on the part of the faculty. That’s why we are hoping that a faculty member would honor the obligations he/she has sworn to before taking any drastic attention.

These are the advices which Pres. Chang Horng-jinh gave to would-be quitters at TKU.

“TKU has been a liberal-minded institution. We are welcoming knowledgeable teachers to join our group, but we pose no obstacles if they feel like to leave for personal considerations. But I still wish to say there are rules to follow in the whole ball-game, and one must learn not to overstep the borderline of the game.” One can slightly detect some unswerving determination in Pres. Chang’s friendly advice.

Recently an untoward thing happened when a Futures Studies teacher tendered his resignation at the end of last semester. His request, however, was denied by the Committee of Teaching Evaluation and Selection this year. This professor went on with his decision and had become an AWOL. An emergency situation occurred and finally, the university had to find a replacement to the dismay of all the students enrolled in the course. Who is to blame except the faculty in question?

The Personnel Office reiterates that as soon as a faculty declares his/her willingness to accept the contract offered him/her, it constitutes a binding force to both sides: the employer and the employee. If a faculty should wish to ask leave of absence in the interim, there are patterns of behavior to follow.

For instance, there are some personnel changes this semester. Dr. Chuang Chih-ming from Department of Information Engineering has become President of Air University, Kaohsiung; Dr. Lin Yu-fang from International Affairs and Strategic Studies, has been elected ROC Legislator; Dr. Lin Sheng-fong from Department of Architecture, has been appointed as the Committee member of the Executive Yuan. They have all been cleared by school authorities to acquire a “leaving but not quitting” status. But after their term is up, suppose they wish to reapply for another term, they either will have to quit or come back again as a part-timer, and that’s the rule.