More Behind The False Accusation and Collaboration of The Conspirators

----- Original Message ----

From: 周艾琳 chouaru@yahoo.com.tw
To: Curt D <in8aqua@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 4:31:17 PM
Subject: Re: More interesting information

Dear Curtis,

That is so odd. After reading the first attached message, I found that this girl may have some problem with her mind. For example, according to her article on her blog dated June 26th, she clearly wrote that she thanked NTCN for terminating your contract and expelling you from the college. She did it not only for herself, but for new coming students who may possibly be taught by you. Inconsequently, from your first attached message, on July 11th, she later posted that she is happy to have a chance to see you on campus. According to her articles on her blog, she sorrowed over "this sex harassment you made to her" which made her life gloomy and depressing. However, someone or something must be hidden behind the true story. On the same date, Tuesday, June 26th, she had a good mood to have dinner at a famous steak house. Remember, it was two days before the "trial (this is what she called in her article)" of the gender equality committee. Seeing her behaviors, I don't see any one of her effects mentioned in the results letter from the committee. Now, the truth is blurred, and I am really confused.   

Your appeal letter is so realistic, I mean the tone and words, that I hope they can understand your points clearly.  I hope the truth about this case will come to light.  Honestly speaking, after understanding your case, I see students with different color lenses now.  How can such a young girl do such a thing intentionally?  I just don't understand. 

Adeline

Agree

FROM: Curt D

TO:周艾琳

Friday, September 14, 2007 8:56 AM

Dear Adeline,

  Yes...there is a lot that is strange and confusing about the student. What it all boils down to is there is something wrong with her and that has played some part in her making such a ridiculous and unfounded accusation. My guess is it's part just meanness (from her and some of her classmates who are behind this), part immaturity to realize the magnitude of what she's done and the damage to me, and part mental/psychological/emotional illness. Whatever influenced her, the fact remains she has done something very wrong and, yes, my feelings toward the students have also changed since the accusation. How could anybody, particularly such young girls, do such a horrible and dirty thing as this?

  "She did it not only for herself, but for new coming students who may possibly be taught by you." She said something similar in her accusation. What she really is talking about is she thinks she is helping some current students who did not pass English and she is helping any future ones who might not pass either. I'm guessing that Dr. Tsai said something like this to her and some other students, plus some other not-so-flattering things about me in front of the students, and this probably emboldened them to take some action...knowing they had her support. The moving of my position to the nursing department fits in perfectly with all of this. Dr. Tsai nor any of those bad students wanted to see me teaching them in this new configuration.

  As for her July 11 message (see Debunking The Deception and The Ignorance), she was not talking about me. She sent that message for some teacher named "Rafael", I guess her teacher during some English camp outside NTCN she attended. I guess she had a nice steak dinner before my "trial" to celebrate the already-fixed decision to find me guilty. This is almost beyond belief what the student and the other conspirators at NTCN have done. For what? Their morals and integrity are very, very low and corrupted to do such a thing as this. I dedicated myself to my work and helping all the students to really improve their English and improve themselves...and this is the kind of thanks I get for my 4 years of hard work! None of the them had the courtesy or respect to talk to me about the students' feedback about my teaching...nor did they have the same to support me as a fellow teacher and tell the students they should stop being lazy, improve their poor attitudes and study habits, and pass the class on their merits and not expect a teacher to pass undeserving students. Plus, I volunteered my time to participate in that outside activity for the school, especially at the encouragement of the president. What a setup!

Regards,

Curtis 

More Obstacles: 'Dinosaurs', Corruption and Taiwan's Weak Judicial Reform

  Even for the average Taiwanese, seeking redress through Taiwan's courts is a very daunting experience. For foreigners, it is all but "mission impossible" to achieve justice whether the plaintiff or defendant.

  In addition to the obstacles I've already pointed out in my own particular case, the inadequate state of Taiwan's judiciary due to a plethora of what are referred to locally as "dinosaur" judges, corruption from the top court down, and long-running procrastination on and stymieing of judicial reform are also serious impediments to justice here.

  Here is sampling of what the local press has been reporting in recent months about the Taiwan government's half-hearted and ineffective attempts at judicial reform:

Draft judges' law is still a 'dinosaur
Draft for anti-corruption bureau fails, for now
Justice system mustn't isolate itself: Ma
Ma offers support for judicial reform
Ma realizes importance of judicial reform

Trying To Halt Years of Injustice

  Here is a lengthy complaint I sent to Taiwan's Judicial Yuan in exasperation after enduring repeated indifference, bias, incompetence and just plain injustice for more than 3 years since this nightmare began. The nursing university, the Ministry of Education, the Taipei District Court...all of them doing their utmost to hinder and frustrate my efforts for the truth and vindication. 

  In addition, with president Ma Ying-jeou's and his government's alleged determination to initiate judicial reform, I wanted to use my case as a test of their real resolve to improve and clean up the woefully deficient judiciary here, especially where it concerns foreigners.

  

I sent both this original English version and a Chinese version translated (very roughly) by Google Translator.

  This is the Judicial Yuan's stock response which clearly fails to adequately address nearly all the points and questions I raised in my complaint. It illustrates quite well the nearly 4 years of bureaucratic indifference, run-around and even bias I have faced again and again in Taiwan.

Note: As of sometime last year, the school changed its name to the National Taiwan University of Nursing & Health Sciences.  

Back To The Control Yuan

  In my blog post of Sept. 24, 2010 Some Answers I mentioned letters I had received from the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office and the Control Yuan. The letters were in response to complaints I had filed against the nursing university. I filed the same complaint with each body. Here is an edited copy (because a certain former VP of the school is a serial lawsuit filer) of the complaint:

 

 Here is the Control Yuan's confirmation they had accepted my complaint and were going to investigate it:

  

Here We Go Again!

  On Thursday, January 6, I was in the Taipei district court building to find out when I could finish copying the files of my civil lawsuit case. Apparently the staff misunderstood my reason for being there and she proceeded to tell me (in Chinese) "you're judge is gone."
  I thought I might have misunderstood what she said, so I asked the security guard standing nearby if he could help me and ask what the staff meant by the judge was gone. After some discussion, the guard explained that (supposedly) the judge in my case had "retired" four days earlier and so a new judge would be assigned to my case. It was deja vu! Lightning struck twice!
  For the second time in 2-1/2 years, the judge will suddenly be replaced and at the same point in the case as the first time - when the judge was due to make/announce his decision. It's also the second time the judge will replaced after I filed one or more complaints against the judge, including one this time specifically asking that the judge either allow me to testify or be removed and replaced.

  Just a coincidence...2 times?

  Here is a an edited copy of the complaint (written in Chinese by the staff from my explanation of the problems) I filed with the Control Yuan on November 10, 2010:

  I'll post an English translation of this complaint as soon as I can get it, and I'll be posting more documents from this 3-1/2 year saga. You'll see more clearly what kind of experience I've been through having to navigate this nightmare in a foreign language in a foreign country. Case documents, court hearings, more than 95% of everything related to the lawsuit and the administrative appeal have been in Chinese, putting me at a grave and perpetual disadvantage. Mostly I've only managed to get very cursory explanations of the documents and little more than that of the court proceedings, even the few times that an interpreter was present.
  According to the Control Yuan staff, this complaint was sent to the Taipei District Court and normally the Control Yuan will get a response to a complaint within 2 months of the date it was filed.  
  Here is a letter I sent to the judge and the Judicial Yuan in October 2010 before filing the complaint with the Control Yuan:  http://pow3hatan-warrior4justice.blogspot.com/2010/10/documenting-my-numerous-requests-to.html
  I'd like for all the documents I share on this blog to be available with English translations, so if there are any of you reading who can help or you know someone who could help with translations, please send your translation to or contact me at jugger3naut@live.com

Reflections After A Life Is Taken IV

  I could hardly have imagined that a place where I worked relatively trouble-free for 4 years - and I had only one more year to finish before going home - and devoted much extra time to, even worked some ridiculous overtime hours for, would turn turn out to have such two-faced, immoral and unscrupulous administrators who would stoop to the lowest to further their own agenda and ambitions with such a dastardly and outrageous fraud - collaborating with a mentally ill student to falsely accuse me of sexual harassment. It was literally the worst nightmare of my childhood rearing its ugly head again in adult life - the horrible bullies of my youth come to life again over 35 years later in mid-life.

  What began as an unsubstantiated, bogus allegation, by a lone, rogue student fairly quickly unveiled itself as a nefarious plot between the student and certain administrators to go way over the top to ensure my contract would not be renewed (as had had already been done) and that I would have extremely little to no chance of challenging the false accusation or the reversal of my contract renewal. Suddenly I went from the safety and certainty of another year's work at the nursing university to a panicked scramble to find a new job within one month (before my alien resident certificate and work permit expired) , and find out what to do to defend myself from the lies and potential damage to my livelihood, reputation and stable financial condition.

  With no family here for the kind of close support and help I needed, I had only some Taiwanese friends to turn to for assistance. My closest friends came through for me with much-needed moral support, encouragement, and some real help I needed in dealing with the many people and government agencies that became involved in this situation. These friends were the ones who did much to help me survive the first several months of this unreal ordeal - the most stressful, traumatic and turbulent times of this nightmare sham.

  Even a few so-called "friends" - colleagues and faculty at the nursing college that I had little professional or personal interaction with during my tenure there - suddenly emerged shortly after the accusation spread around the campus. They also contributed significantly to my early survival and provided some essential, sometimes confidential, information and evidence that buoyed my initial defense. In time, however, I was to see that some of those who came out of nowhere with their help had strong ulterior, self-serving motives that eventually resulted in them suddenly abandoning their assistance once they had achieved their objectives. My case was much more than just a "simple" case of a false accusation and effort to remove the last foreign English teacher at the nursing university by hook or crook. My position in the school was connected to the school's efforts to upgrade from a college to a university and the false allegation against me was coopted by a certain faction of faculty and staff at the school who were hellbent on preventing one of the candidates running for the next president of the school in 2008 from winning - a crony of the then current president and the one of the principal faculty members who illegally spread my name around the campus long before I was officially notified of the false allegation one of her nursing students made against me!

  In my efforts to survive those overwhelmingly negative and frustrating first months of this fight for the truth and and escape from this nightmare, there were two other significant things I did to keep myself from going off the deep end. 

  One was to escape Taiwan three times in the first eight months of this ordeal for short travel to cool down, to maintain some semblance of normalcy, and to refresh my mind and my spirit to continue the titanic struggle which was shaping up to be a protracted David vs Goliath battle.   

  The second came after 9 months of also battling to control the periodic bouts of depression, rage and uncharacteristic thoughts and urges to take matters into my own hands. I began counseling at the Tienmu Community Center - twice a month at first and later once a month - and continued for one year until I eventually took a long leave from Taiwan in early 2009 to work in Thailand.

Reflections After A Life Is Taken III

"Strange isn't it. Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

Clarence The Angel from the movie It's A Wonderful Life

  Christmas night I finally finished watching one of my all-time favorite and touching movies for the umpteenth time. As I watched and was moved by several of the most poignant lines of this holiday classic, I was reminded of one major reason why I have managed to survive the assassination attempt on my character and livelihood by the administration bullies at the nursing university. Even in the darkest and most stressful hours of this nightmare, I have never forgotten that it truly is a wonderful life and God has given me the greatest gift to live this life...to touch the lives of so many others and to be touched by many others as well.

  I also appreciate and treasure more than words can say that my wonderful, loving parents brought me into this world, they worked hard, sacrificed and poured all their love and care into raising me through childhood into an adult - they made it possible for me to become who I am.  As their flesh and blood, first child, and only son, I know how deeply it would hurt and impact them if I did such an irresponsible thing as take my own life for any reason, let alone over a few very poor excuses for human beings - low-life, no-class trash - who certainly would never be worth taking one's life over.  

  From some grieving parents I've heard sharing the pain of losing a child, I've heard them say "No parent should have to bury their child." I can't imagine putting my mother and father, who brought me into this world, or even my 4 younger sisters through such incomprehensible grief.

  When I first heard of the false sexual harassment accusation against me, from a colleague (in confidence) of all people, my whole world quickly disintegrated into confusion, disbelief, panic, anger, and frustration. Gradually I realized that a small clique of two-faced people in the nursing university's administration had suckered me into their scam by inviting me to join an off-campus activity with 3 students I did not know and one who had been my student just months earlier and was known by her classmates, faculty and staff to have some mental illness. 

  One day the administrators were pouring praises on me and seeking my advice on what to do for the activity, the next day they were ganging up on me (5 on 1) in a dastardly, premeditated attack on my person. One day I was waiting to complete the process to renew my work permit for the next year and planning a trip back home to New Jersey to visit my family, the next I was scrambling for answers to what was going on and how to keep myself in Taiwan at least long enough to get some answers and to decide what to do about the false accusation, my work and my future.

  I have felt the powerful dark forces that can break down an otherwise normal, healthy human being and weaken them to the point of doing things they would not normally do. The seemingly endless days, weeks and months of this nightmare drove me to depths of despair, inner rage and turmoil I had not experienced since the darkest days of my turbulent marriage and divorce almost 20 years earlier.

To be concluded... 

Reflections After A Life Is Taken II

  My student's death was a rude wake up call. For these years of the nursing university nightmare I've been periodically drifting in and out of the huge dark cloud that's hung over my life, battling mild bouts of depression and feeling some of the energy and vitality that used to fuel me just drained away...fighting to keep myself afloat mentally, emotionally and financially. With a suicide happening to someone I knew, my own situation and handling of it have been drawn more sharply into focus recently.

  The first days and weeks after I heard about the false accusation in June 2007 were full of highly charged feelings and wild swings of emotion...mostly negative. Suddenly the positive and stable world I had been living in was shattered and in chaos. My job was rudely and suddenly pulled out from under me at the time when I was supposed to be getting my contract renewal, renewing my work visa for another year, and going home to visit my parents, sisters and friends during the summer break. Instead, in the middle of all the confusion over the false accusation and trying to get answers and protect myself, I had to hurriedly find another job to remain in Taiwan at least long enough to fight through the school's bogus investigation and decision and to figure out what to do next - stay longer and seek justice or move on somewhere else with better preparation. The administrators behind this evil plot planned it well and timed it to give me the least amount of time possible to challenge and uncover their wrongdoing and find another job.   By the time I got official notice of the sexual harassment accusation and request to participate in the sham investigation, I only had 30 days left to the expiration of my contract and alien resident status. It was crystal clear the conspirators were not counting on me surviving in Taiwan past these 30 days.

  It was during this time and continuing the next several months that, in retrospect, I was the most vulnerable to the unstable emotions and mental state I had fallen into. I had plenty of thoughts of things I wanted to do that were very uncharacteristic of me. Fortunately, none of them were about committing suicide but my parents were very concerned about me and were very direct in asking if I were thinking about such a selfish act. They assured me several times how much they loved me and were there for me...and how devastated they and my four younger sisters would be if ever I took my life. I did my best to assuage their fears and show them I was not on the verge of or considering suicide.

To be continued...

Reflections After A Life Is Taken

  It's been a longer than usual break from writing. I try to write at least twice a week, but sometimes daily life or swings in my mood prevent me from keeping that pace. This time, it was something shocking and completely unexpected and it's effect on me the past couple of weeks.

  Exactly 2 weeks ago I found out one of my private students, who was part of group of 4 colleagues learning English, had committed suicide the week before. He was only 38, married, and had a 2-year old son. It seemed his career was very good, he was well-liked and respected by his colleagues, and I had a good impression of him from our classes. Nothing I knew about him or saw indicated he was a troubled or potentially suicidal person.

  The news of his sudden death and that he had committed suicide weighed heavily on my mind all that day and for much of the entire week. Not just about his death, but I also did a lot of deeper reflection on my own life these past 3+ years. What I have been through emotionally and psychologically from the start of this unimaginable nightmare up to the present, and how I have managed to survive the trauma, stress, and even periodic depression that have impacted me. What could have been so difficult or stressful for my former student that would have caused him to end his life when it seemed he had everything else going for him?

To be continued...