The Taipei High Administrative Court has ruled that National Chiao Tung University had the right to expel a student who was accused of harassing another student.

The former student, surnamed Lee (李), in December 2017 filed an administrative lawsuit challenging his expulsion, saying the school had infringed upon his right of free movement and exhibited blatant bias by treating him as a criminal.

Lee was accused of harassing a coed surnamed Tung (董) from March to May of 2017.

Tung told the university’s Gender Equality Committee that Lee followed her to class, her dorm and wherever she was eating, adding that he somehow knew her route or would be waiting for her at her destination.

“I would see him as many as four times a day,” Tung said, calling the actions frightening.

The committee determined that, while Lee’s actions did not did not constitute sexual harassment, they were nevertheless very concerning, and ordered him to stay at least 50m from Tung and out of her line of sight.

It said that Lee would receive a small demerit for the first violation, would be placed under observation for the second and expelled for a third violation.

Lee was expelled in December 2017 after he repeatedly disregarded the restrictions and threatened Tung within earshot of school counselors, the committee said.

Tung suffered great emotional distress and psychological trauma, requiring constant companionship and even considered suicide, the university said.

Lee’s actions infringed upon Tung’s right to receive an education, and are suspected of breaching the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) and the Criminal Code, the university said, adding that despite multiple counseling sessions, Lee has shown no signs of remorse.

The ruling can be appealed.

[Taipei Times, 2019-04-26]