Taiwanese Rape Victim Apologizes over Cover-Up Allegations

A Taiwanese rape victim has apologized to the dean of the School of Social Sciences at Fu Jen Catholic University for accusing her of attempting to cover up the case.

The victim, surnamed Wu (巫), was a psychology student at the university when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Kevin Wang (王凱民), another student of the department, after a school event on June 28 last year. Wang has been charged in relation to the case.

This case was made public and went viral after Wu wrote about the incident on Facebook in March. The post can no longer be found on Wu's page.

Wu’s boyfriend, Zhu Bo-ming (朱柏銘), posted an 8,000-word article about the incident on his Facebook account on May 29, describing how he found Wang raping Wu, who was too drunk to fight back, and how the school handled the case. Zhu said Wu was devastated when Wu wrote about the assault and did not complete the story, which is why he decided to write down everything to inform the public.

Zhu said that Hsia Lin-ching (夏林清), the dean of the School of Social Sciences at Fu Jen Catholic University, told the couple she would handle the case instead of turning it over to the school’s gender equality committee. According to Zhu, she “fiercely told them” not to go to the committee and added she would set up another working group to investigate the case.

According to Zhu, Hsia later tried to force the working group investigating the case to conclude that the incident was a case of "intoxicated consensual sex." The group then sent e-mails to the students who had supported Wu through Facebook comments, and arranged for teachers to meet with them. Zhu believes these actions were evidence that Hsia was trying to cover up the case to protect "the reputation of the department."

In response to Zhu's post, Hsia held a press conference on June 7, in which she denied the allegations and said Zhu's post had “shaped her into the image of an oppressor.” Hsia said she was out of the country when the case occurred and did not learn of the incident until her return two weeks later, by which time Wu had already reported the case and legal proceedings were underway.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Wu said that while her feelings were hurt during her conversations with Hsia, the dean “didn’t cover up the case.” The victim says the allegations directed at Hsia were shaped by public discussion and she “didn’t mean for Hsia to have to face the accusations.”

Wu says she “hopes society can stop attacking Hsia and judging her unfairly,” and adds that Wu herself “is responsible for all the mistakes.”

Well-known political activist Wang Dan (王丹) on Sept. 21 said in a Facebook post that he “feels very sad” after reading Wu’s apology.

Wang said that regardless of the case, “Hsia should apologize just because of this apology,” as Hsia’s handling of the incident resulted in the victim apologizing.

“Is there anything more absurd than this? Don’t you bear any responsibility, Hsia?”

First Editor: Edward White
Second Editor: J. Michael Cole