Tuesday, April 24, 2012
爭數億遺產 大陸二奶告台灣元配
【聯合報╱記者賴錦宏／綜合報導】
2012.04.24 04:54 pm
已故深圳台商協會前會長林清輝的大陸二奶楊長清，狀告元配林鄭秀李，要求大陸法院剝奪原配林鄭秀李的財產繼承權。這起涉及人民幣逾億元（逾四億元台幣）的財產官司，昨天在廣東惠州法院開庭。
廣東新快報花了半個版，報導這起大陸二奶向大陸法院起訴台商元配，要求法院剝奪髮妻繼承權官司的新聞。報導還刊出林清輝的中華民國身分證照片，照片顯示其配偶為林鄭秀李。
報導稱，在大陸，元配羞辱或剝光二奶的衣服並對之毆打的新聞時有見報，作為二奶向法院起訴元配，爭取繼承權的官司，卻不多見。
二奶楊長清的起訴書稱，1979年出生的楊小姐與相差廿八歲的林清輝「情投意合」，90年代共同生活，於2001年和2002年產下一對子女。楊長清稱自己才是林清輝真正合法的繼承人。
楊長清強調，1990年與林清輝相識時，林稱已經離婚，並且也從未提及前妻的情況和姓名。
楊長清被告代理律師林燕青表示，從楊長清的訴狀和證明來看，楊只提供了林清輝和楊已經生育一對子女的戶籍證明，但楊無法提供兩人的合法婚姻登記證明，而中共法律對是否存在的婚姻，主要看的是「結婚證」不是戶籍登記，「該案已突破了大陸法律和道德的底線」。
林燕青還表示，即使林清輝生前與楊長清有協議，林也無權將妻子以及兒女擁有農場的股份，擅自處理給楊小姐。在整個過程中，楊長清本人「根本沒有訴訟的資格」，真正有資格獲得林清輝遺產的是他們的一對子女。新快報試圖聯繫當事人楊小姐，但楊拒絕接聽電話和回覆短信。
林清輝的妻子林鄭秀李表示，早在1989年，林清輝便在香港註冊公司，並進入東莞、惠州等地投資設廠。楊長清曾是林清輝在東莞大嶺山首飾雕刻廠高級職員餐廳的服務員，其間有很多接觸林清輝的機會。
後來，林清輝把楊長清調到深圳在身邊任職文員。林清輝於09年12月去世後，家人在整理丈夫的遺產中才發現，投資惠州農場登記在林鄭秀李以及兩子兩女名下的股權，被「文員」楊長清冒名簽字，過戶到楊的名下並辦理了大陸工商登記手續，才揭發了這個秘密。
【2012/04/24 聯合報】
全文網址: 爭數億遺產 大陸二奶告台灣元配 | 兩岸要聞 | 兩岸台商 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/MAINLAND/MAI1/7047843.shtml#ixzz1sxkurc00
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Friday, April 20, 2012
學校設聖經課程 美國6州通過立法; 退休夫妻 兆彩領1億美元
【台灣醒報╱記者莊瑞萌╱台北報導】
2012.04.20 09:33 pm
是否在公立學校開放聖經課程？美國亞利桑那州議會上週四以21票同意、9票反對，正式通過學校可設置聖經選修課程，該州州長布魯爾(Jan Brewer)旋即簽署法令開始實施，課程大綱將包括聖經各書名稱簡介、新舊約時代的歷史背景，以及聖經對現今西方法律、習慣、道德、價值、政府形成與文化之影響。
《聖經》蘊含智慧話語同時影響西方文化，亞利桑那州州長因此決定開放公立學校設置聖經相關課程並列為選修，讓更多學生有機會接觸到聖經，以聖經觀點看待西方文明演進的過程，目前包括哈佛大學在內的學者都同意，瞭解聖經對於成功的教育是不可或缺的一環。
消息傳出，一向持反對意見的「美國政教分開組織」表示，「這根本無助提升課業成績，反而是將宗教信仰帶進學校。」推動這項法案的美國議員普勞德則表示，「許多哈佛或是耶魯大學教授都認為，瞭解聖經對於擁有成功的教育，是不可或缺的一環。」
也有民眾認為，既是「選修」自然適合願意學習的人，畢竟聖經是全世界最暢銷的書，對全世界社會的影響力不容小覷，自然應該開課讓學生學習；也有人建議開設「宗教比較課程」，邀請各宗教學者演講達到辯論與討論目的。
目前除了亞利桑那州開放學校設置聖經課程外，更早包括喬治亞、奧克拉荷馬、田納西、南卡羅來納與德州，都已正式開放將聖經列為選修課程
全文網址: 學校設聖經課程 美國6州通過立法 | 美國新聞 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR6/7041902.shtml#ixzz1say5xeUD
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創紀錄6.56億美元兆彩（Mega Millions）的中獎人之一，伊利諾州退休電腦分析師巴特勒與妻子派翠西亞18日現身領取巨額支票。
3月30日開出的兆彩，共有3張彩券中了頭彩，每張分得2億1860萬美元獎金。巴特勒因在伊州購買彩券，根據州法，他必須出面領獎，向外界確保獎金已支持得主。另外兩張樂透，一張在堪薩斯州，一張在馬里蘭州的得主均已領獎，但決定身分保密。
65歲的巴特勒說：「對獎後我知道中了頭彩，興奮到早上都無法入睡。我轉頭告訴老婆我們中獎了，她一臉疑惑，我再說一次，她開始咯咯笑個不停約4個小時。」聽時，62歲的派翠西亞在老公的背後又樂的笑起來。
幸運的巴特勒夫婦選擇一次領取現金1億5800萬美元，而非分26年領取。扣完稅後，兩人可抱走1億1051萬7449美元。他們打算拿這筆巨款用來投資、幫助兒孫以及可能會添購一部新車。
【2012/04/20 聯合報】
全文網址: 退休夫妻 兆彩領1億美元 | 美國新聞 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR6/7040403.shtml#ixzz1sayDyjiv
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【世界日報╱北京20日電】
2012.04.20 04:47 pm
一名女子昨日在南海海口九村小學附近店鋪前停放電動車時，與店內一男子發生爭執，女子用手猛抓其下體，致男子死亡。嫌疑人被當場控制，警方現已介入調查。
南海網報導，昨日上午11時，一名女子騎著電動車來到了九村小學附近，該女子準備將電動車停放在路上某店鋪前，但遭到店內一男子反對，雙方因此起了口角，隨後升級為肢體衝突，該女子的丈夫和弟弟也趕到現場助陣。
爭執過程中，該女子突然猛抓該男子下體，致其暈倒。該男子緊急被送往醫院急救，在中午1時多宣告死亡。
知情人士透露，該女子41歲，其弟姓鄧，丈夫姓方；死者姓李，今年42歲。三名嫌疑人被警方當場控制，警方現已介入調查。
全文網址: 停車糾紛 女抓男下體致死 | 港陸記事 | 兩岸台商 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/MAINLAND/MAIN2/7040748.shtml#ixzz1sawRBfJP
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
放眼望去 為何不見新加坡的孩子們
【前言】
本書作者皮爾斯親身走訪六十餘國，以高明的立論、不受主流束縛的觀點，誠摯坦率地正視了這個讓我們始終感到不安的人口危機。同時，深具開創性地剖析了各國人口消長背後的意義與隱憂，並且探究未來我們將朝什麼方向而去。
新加坡雞尾酒
女性主義革命距離完成還有很長的一段路要走。在世界上大部分地區，男性仍然想要掌控女性。無論如何，我們終究得面臨一項選擇：完成這場革命，或是陷入生育率過低的泥沼裡。
從數十個生育率跌破替代水準的國家所呈現出來的證據可知，男性、國家、教會與雇主的態度如果沒有改變，女性將會徹底放棄生育。如果要她們在生孩子和享受人生當中二選一，她們絕對會選擇後者。
對新加坡總理李顯龍而言，人口問題已是一項國家危機。新加坡本土人口將於本世紀中葉減半，從而成為自己國家裡的少數族群。新加坡的女性已發起了「生育罷工」，每年的生育數不及四萬。這種情形若是再持續一個世代，新加坡就會陷入「無可挽回的境界」。如此一來，這個立國還不滿五十年的城市國家將不得不畫下句點。
二○○八年八月，新加坡各大報紙紛紛刊登了李顯龍的國慶演說內容，原因之一是他聲稱自己實踐了全國同胞都應一致採行的生活。身為四個孩子的爸爸，李顯龍熟練於換尿布的工作，扮演了新好男人的角色，是該國二十一世紀的父親榜樣。「丈夫如果將一切工作都丟給妻子，或是強迫女性在工作與生孩子間做出選擇，那麼，她們就會展開生育罷工。」男人應該多做一點，他說。（他沒有提到一項幕後發展，亦即他雖曾提議國家應向新一代的父親伸出援手，強制落實男性育嬰假，但這個提議卻遭到了企業雇主否決。他們聲稱，這項措施會對經濟造成太大的傷害。在新加坡，經濟絕對不容遭到危害，就算是為了延續國家命脈也不行）《海峽時報》刊登了許多有關人口危機的分析，評論者都將矛頭指向新加坡專心追求經濟發展的態度。新加坡是二十世紀下半葉的經濟傳奇之一，更是亞洲四小龍當中最富裕的國家。
然而，新加坡的人民都忙於追求財富，而把生育下一代的工作拋在一旁。「過去四十年，我們在經濟發展的追求，已然造就了一群抱持不同人生觀的新一代年輕人，」一位頗具代表性的專欄作家寫道：「他們非常個人主義、充滿行動力，也非常拜金，不願為了家庭生活而犧牲個人自由。他們的社交生活更為忙碌，卻必須對抗害怕承諾的心態。」另一名專欄作家則是警告指出：「孩子如果在女傭的照顧下長大，而且整天都待在家教班或才藝班，那麼他們成年之後很可能不會想要自己的孩子。」新加坡目前之所以還維持得下去，必須歸功於大量湧入的外國人。在李顯龍以英語發表國慶演說的那一天，也正是新加坡在北京奧運唯一具有奪牌希望的女子桌球隊出戰決賽的日子。
為了現場轉播這場賽事，電視台延後了二十四小時才播出總理的國慶演說。不過，新加坡只拿到了銀牌。而且，正如許多人指出的，那些奪牌的球員也不是土生土長的新加坡人，而是中國移民。實際上，新加坡的奧運代表隊有半數隊員都不是本地人。由於新加坡是個既新又脆弱的國家，這類議題引起的警覺就比歐洲強烈得多。在歐洲，沒有人認為國家有可能會消失。
有些新加坡人將生育荒歸咎於女性。言詞直率的總理指出，男人不幫忙換尿布，已經對國家安全造成威脅，「既然我做得到，大家一定也都做得到。」有些人則是歸咎於該國許多男女分校的精英學校，這些學校培育出許多學識優秀但「沒有文化也沒有教養」的男孩，以及「卑鄙」的女孩，也庇護了鼓勵同性戀的「自由派知識分子」。
沒有人提到，導致新加坡陷入此一困境的罪魁禍首就是現任總理的父親，前總理李光耀，現年八十五歲，目前依然健在。
新加坡位於一座島嶼上，面積不及倫敦的一半，人口為四百萬。該國的社會嚴密掌控了人民生活的所有面向。如果說，中國是一個由共產主義者統治的資本主義國家，那麼新加坡就是資本主義者統治的社會主義國家，至少也是個「保姆國家」。新加坡控制人民的作為可追溯到該國的起源，就在大英帝國退出東南亞之後。
一九五○年代中期，新加坡女性平均生育六名子女。隨著死亡率迅速下滑，外國移民大批湧入，該國人口在一九五七至七○年間幾乎倍增。這樣的人口成長幅度太大了。一九六六年，李光耀成立新加坡家庭計畫與人口委員會，「制定及推行人口控制計畫」。他利用強大的政府宣傳機器全力鼓吹縮減家庭規模，印發大量海報，其中的口號包括「兩個就好」、「兩個就夠」、「結婚之前多想想」。
宣傳活動奏效了。李光耀統治下的人民隨即順服了新政策，生育率開始下滑。根據西方人口學家的建議，李光耀認為生育率將會在降到替代水準之後即保持穩定。然而，這項政策卻太成功了。「兩個就好」的廣告一直沿用到一九八二年，當時許多人都已經只生一胎，生育率已降到一．七。直到那時候，李光耀才對這場宣傳活動喊停。
李光耀對於這項政策獲致的成果驚恐不已，於是又回頭鼓吹大家庭。不過，鼓吹的對象是有限的。他提倡的生育政策帶有明確的優生色彩。一九八○年的新加坡人口普查結果顯示，生育率下滑幅度最大的是教育程度最高的族群，教育程度較低的人口則仍然「過度生產」。他在一九八三年的國慶日慶典上直接挑明了說：「我們的生育庫如果不包括受過高等教育的女性，而是讓她們置身事外，那麼社會的智商水準就會愈來愈低……下一代就不會有那麼多的聰明人口能夠支持愚蠢的人口。這就是問題所在。」於是，他決定特別鼓勵大學畢業生結婚與生育。一九八四年，新成立的社會發展署推出獎勵生育的減稅措施，提供頂尖學校的優先入學名額，但只針對受過教育的人口。中下層人口不但被排除在外，政府還提供現金獎勵他們結紮。沒有學歷的婦女如果在生了第一或第二胎後同意接受結紮手術，即可領得一萬元新幣。
有些人認為，這項政策主要出於種族考量，而不是害怕國家的智商水準降低。他們指稱，該政策的目的在於鞏固華裔人口的支配地位，壓抑生育率較高的馬來人。的確，種族考量向來是隱藏在新加坡政治當中的一個層面。一九六○年代初期，新加坡因為華人與馬來人的紛爭擴大成為種族暴動，而脫離馬來西亞成為獨立國家。另一個同樣明確的事實則是，華人社群普遍教育程度較高，生育的子女數也比較少。
不論總理的意圖為何，新加坡各個種族與階層的生育率都持續下跌。一九八七年，李光耀認定量與質一樣重要，而將提倡生育的策略推廣到所有人身上。政府成立了第二家特別針對非大學畢業生的婚配服務機構，還以各式口號轟炸他們，諸如：「人生要為愛留點空間」與「人生當父母才有樂趣」，以及不太具有催情效果的「如果養得起，請生三胎以上」。
隨著一九八○年代末期出現一股短暫的嬰兒潮，政府不禁鬆了一口氣。然而，這個現象持續的時間並不長，不久，生育荒的情形又開始擴大。二○○○年，李光耀的接班人吳作棟推出了現金的「幼兒津貼」。李顯龍在二○○四年上任，將產假延長為三個月，國家也投入更深，資助「支持生育」的慈善團體，包括「我愛孩子」、「職業母親論壇」與「職業父母」。
這些努力毫無成果。在新加坡實施了全世界持續時間最長的提倡生育政策的二十年後，生育率反倒比原本還低。該國在二○○九年的生育率為一．一，不但是全球最低，也連續五年低於一．三。政府顧問暨新加坡大學社會學家葉梅婷向我說明了這個問題：「他們當初致力降低生育率，社會與個人的目標是一致的，所以改變的速度非常快。可是現在個人與社會卻是朝著不同方向互相拉扯——而且個人逐漸佔了上風。」新加坡是全球唯一由政府扮演紅娘的國家。該國政府認為，有一部分的問題在於人民太害羞、工作太忙，以致沒有機會找到合適的伴侶。因此，政府成立了「網路一線牽」（Lovebyte）的婚配服務網站，其中不但有愛情博士提供諮詢，也有個人衛生的建議文章。此外，還有「愛在新加坡」（Romancingsingapore）網站。最近的一個新構想，則是為高等學府的學生開辦「情感關係」課程。民間對於政府鼓勵情愛、性行為與生育的做法普遍抱持冷眼以對的態度。有個老笑話說，社會發展署的首字母縮寫其實代表了「單身、飢渴又沒人要」。（譯註）一位名叫阿卡莎的年輕公關主管對我說：「這麼多的宣傳只會讓人興趣缺缺。大家都說政府不該插手管這種事情。」
民間紅娘能夠交出更好的成績嗎？他們倒是善加利用了政府極力想要得知這一點的心態，「心心相印」（Heart2Heart Connect）、「電影約會」（gomoviedate.com）與「二○四○俱樂部」（Club2040）都獲得政府資助，而且二○四○俱樂部還號稱其舉辦的快速約會創下了人數最多的世界紀錄。這種現象聽起來像是專制威權政府加上荒唐鬧劇的結果。若是在其他國家，這種宣傳活動只稱得上是一種拙劣手法，用於協助少數年輕人度過人生中一段難熬的時期。但在新加坡，這卻是攸關國家命脈。新加坡的華裔孩子結婚的比例太低了，葉梅婷說。這不僅是欠缺社交技巧造成的結果。她指出，在男性當中，教育程度低的人口，結婚的人數也最少。在沒有接受過中學教育的男性當中，超過四分之一到了四十歲仍然未婚，這個比例是男性大學畢業生的兩倍。女性的情形剛好相反。沒有中學學歷的女性，到了四十歲還單身的只有一○％，而大學畢業的女性則是有三○％。問題似乎是這樣：受過教育的職業婦女對於婚姻深懷戒心，因為結婚可能會對她們追求事業的抱負造成阻礙。而且，她們也不想和教育程度比自己低的男人交往，至少絕對不會挑選這樣的結婚對象。教育程度高的男人和教育程度低的女人相配似乎沒什麼問題，但教育程度低的男人根本毫無機會。現在，許多教育程度低的男性都只好找尋外國伴侶，不論是中國與越南的鄉村姑娘，還是泰國妓院裡的妓女。
至於孩子呢？新加坡仍然有些孩子。我到新加坡國立大學醫院拜訪該國頂尖的小兒科醫師丹尼爾．高（Daniel Goh）。他的候診室是我在新加坡唯一看到兒童的地方。我不禁大吃一驚，因為我差點都忘了這個國家還有兒童存在。新加坡的兒童人數非常少，而且絕大部分的時間都在學校裡上課，不然就是在城裡各地的公寓大樓裡忙著寫作業。新加坡的教育體系非常注重學業，孩子必須不斷接受評量，並且嚴格區分等級。海報上的口號雖然寫著「人生當父母才有樂趣」，但在競爭激烈的教育環境裡，父母和子女都同樣背負著龐大的壓力。因此，新加坡不但愈來愈少人結婚，結婚之後生孩子的夫妻又更少。那些願意生孩子的夫妻，則是愈來愈多都以一胎為限。丹尼爾．高指出：「我看到愈來愈多的夫妻都不生小孩。以前，這種情形是不被社會接受的，現在卻成了常態。」
問題是，新加坡的經濟與社會政策互相衝突。四分之一的母親表示，只要政府提供比較好的兒童托育服務及更彈性的工作時間，她們就願意多生孩子。然而，雇主不肯順應這樣的要求，政府也不願強迫他們。
新加坡似乎是個不再喜歡孩子的社會，也忘卻了生孩子的習慣。該國首席人口學家賈文．伊凡斯（Gavin Evans）指稱，社會規範正在改變。「可以在各種小事情上看得出來。《海峽時報》近來刊登了一連串的抱怨投書，指稱父母在購物中心裡推著嬰兒車橫衝直撞。其中一份投書是這麼寫的：『父母應該把孩子留在家裡。』對於某些人而言，小孩似乎是不受認可的社會成員。這樣的現象實在令人憂心。我有四個兄弟姐妹，我太太有兩個，所以我們都喜歡小孩。
我們都習慣家裡有小孩。不過，我可以想像得到在未來，小家庭孕育出來的下一代仍是小家庭。大眾會忘卻有小孩的習慣。」目前三十世代的許多人口，每天都工作到很晚，下班後又到酒吧、俱樂部或餐廳放鬆，這些人早就忘卻了有小孩的生活。
李顯龍在二○○八年推出鼓勵生育的新措施之後，才幾個星期就發生了金融風暴。危機爆發之初，新加坡媒體所刊登的報導其中一篇的標題是「沒錢沒婚姻」。數以千計早已排定的婚禮都因為當事人不再負擔得起而延期，就連約會活動也紛紛喊停。
（本文轉載福瑞德‧皮爾斯新書《人口大震盪》，由天下雜誌出版）
全文網址: 放眼望去 為何不見新加坡的孩子們？ - 人口大震盪 - 全球書選 - udn全球觀察 http://mag.udn.com/mag/world/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=378600#ixzz1sJI7qSbb
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本書作者皮爾斯親身走訪六十餘國，以高明的立論、不受主流束縛的觀點，誠摯坦率地正視了這個讓我們始終感到不安的人口危機。同時，深具開創性地剖析了各國人口消長背後的意義與隱憂，並且探究未來我們將朝什麼方向而去。
新加坡雞尾酒
女性主義革命距離完成還有很長的一段路要走。在世界上大部分地區，男性仍然想要掌控女性。無論如何，我們終究得面臨一項選擇：完成這場革命，或是陷入生育率過低的泥沼裡。
從數十個生育率跌破替代水準的國家所呈現出來的證據可知，男性、國家、教會與雇主的態度如果沒有改變，女性將會徹底放棄生育。如果要她們在生孩子和享受人生當中二選一，她們絕對會選擇後者。
對新加坡總理李顯龍而言，人口問題已是一項國家危機。新加坡本土人口將於本世紀中葉減半，從而成為自己國家裡的少數族群。新加坡的女性已發起了「生育罷工」，每年的生育數不及四萬。這種情形若是再持續一個世代，新加坡就會陷入「無可挽回的境界」。如此一來，這個立國還不滿五十年的城市國家將不得不畫下句點。
二○○八年八月，新加坡各大報紙紛紛刊登了李顯龍的國慶演說內容，原因之一是他聲稱自己實踐了全國同胞都應一致採行的生活。身為四個孩子的爸爸，李顯龍熟練於換尿布的工作，扮演了新好男人的角色，是該國二十一世紀的父親榜樣。「丈夫如果將一切工作都丟給妻子，或是強迫女性在工作與生孩子間做出選擇，那麼，她們就會展開生育罷工。」男人應該多做一點，他說。（他沒有提到一項幕後發展，亦即他雖曾提議國家應向新一代的父親伸出援手，強制落實男性育嬰假，但這個提議卻遭到了企業雇主否決。他們聲稱，這項措施會對經濟造成太大的傷害。在新加坡，經濟絕對不容遭到危害，就算是為了延續國家命脈也不行）《海峽時報》刊登了許多有關人口危機的分析，評論者都將矛頭指向新加坡專心追求經濟發展的態度。新加坡是二十世紀下半葉的經濟傳奇之一，更是亞洲四小龍當中最富裕的國家。
然而，新加坡的人民都忙於追求財富，而把生育下一代的工作拋在一旁。「過去四十年，我們在經濟發展的追求，已然造就了一群抱持不同人生觀的新一代年輕人，」一位頗具代表性的專欄作家寫道：「他們非常個人主義、充滿行動力，也非常拜金，不願為了家庭生活而犧牲個人自由。他們的社交生活更為忙碌，卻必須對抗害怕承諾的心態。」另一名專欄作家則是警告指出：「孩子如果在女傭的照顧下長大，而且整天都待在家教班或才藝班，那麼他們成年之後很可能不會想要自己的孩子。」新加坡目前之所以還維持得下去，必須歸功於大量湧入的外國人。在李顯龍以英語發表國慶演說的那一天，也正是新加坡在北京奧運唯一具有奪牌希望的女子桌球隊出戰決賽的日子。
為了現場轉播這場賽事，電視台延後了二十四小時才播出總理的國慶演說。不過，新加坡只拿到了銀牌。而且，正如許多人指出的，那些奪牌的球員也不是土生土長的新加坡人，而是中國移民。實際上，新加坡的奧運代表隊有半數隊員都不是本地人。由於新加坡是個既新又脆弱的國家，這類議題引起的警覺就比歐洲強烈得多。在歐洲，沒有人認為國家有可能會消失。
有些新加坡人將生育荒歸咎於女性。言詞直率的總理指出，男人不幫忙換尿布，已經對國家安全造成威脅，「既然我做得到，大家一定也都做得到。」有些人則是歸咎於該國許多男女分校的精英學校，這些學校培育出許多學識優秀但「沒有文化也沒有教養」的男孩，以及「卑鄙」的女孩，也庇護了鼓勵同性戀的「自由派知識分子」。
沒有人提到，導致新加坡陷入此一困境的罪魁禍首就是現任總理的父親，前總理李光耀，現年八十五歲，目前依然健在。
新加坡位於一座島嶼上，面積不及倫敦的一半，人口為四百萬。該國的社會嚴密掌控了人民生活的所有面向。如果說，中國是一個由共產主義者統治的資本主義國家，那麼新加坡就是資本主義者統治的社會主義國家，至少也是個「保姆國家」。新加坡控制人民的作為可追溯到該國的起源，就在大英帝國退出東南亞之後。
一九五○年代中期，新加坡女性平均生育六名子女。隨著死亡率迅速下滑，外國移民大批湧入，該國人口在一九五七至七○年間幾乎倍增。這樣的人口成長幅度太大了。一九六六年，李光耀成立新加坡家庭計畫與人口委員會，「制定及推行人口控制計畫」。他利用強大的政府宣傳機器全力鼓吹縮減家庭規模，印發大量海報，其中的口號包括「兩個就好」、「兩個就夠」、「結婚之前多想想」。
宣傳活動奏效了。李光耀統治下的人民隨即順服了新政策，生育率開始下滑。根據西方人口學家的建議，李光耀認為生育率將會在降到替代水準之後即保持穩定。然而，這項政策卻太成功了。「兩個就好」的廣告一直沿用到一九八二年，當時許多人都已經只生一胎，生育率已降到一．七。直到那時候，李光耀才對這場宣傳活動喊停。
李光耀對於這項政策獲致的成果驚恐不已，於是又回頭鼓吹大家庭。不過，鼓吹的對象是有限的。他提倡的生育政策帶有明確的優生色彩。一九八○年的新加坡人口普查結果顯示，生育率下滑幅度最大的是教育程度最高的族群，教育程度較低的人口則仍然「過度生產」。他在一九八三年的國慶日慶典上直接挑明了說：「我們的生育庫如果不包括受過高等教育的女性，而是讓她們置身事外，那麼社會的智商水準就會愈來愈低……下一代就不會有那麼多的聰明人口能夠支持愚蠢的人口。這就是問題所在。」於是，他決定特別鼓勵大學畢業生結婚與生育。一九八四年，新成立的社會發展署推出獎勵生育的減稅措施，提供頂尖學校的優先入學名額，但只針對受過教育的人口。中下層人口不但被排除在外，政府還提供現金獎勵他們結紮。沒有學歷的婦女如果在生了第一或第二胎後同意接受結紮手術，即可領得一萬元新幣。
有些人認為，這項政策主要出於種族考量，而不是害怕國家的智商水準降低。他們指稱，該政策的目的在於鞏固華裔人口的支配地位，壓抑生育率較高的馬來人。的確，種族考量向來是隱藏在新加坡政治當中的一個層面。一九六○年代初期，新加坡因為華人與馬來人的紛爭擴大成為種族暴動，而脫離馬來西亞成為獨立國家。另一個同樣明確的事實則是，華人社群普遍教育程度較高，生育的子女數也比較少。
不論總理的意圖為何，新加坡各個種族與階層的生育率都持續下跌。一九八七年，李光耀認定量與質一樣重要，而將提倡生育的策略推廣到所有人身上。政府成立了第二家特別針對非大學畢業生的婚配服務機構，還以各式口號轟炸他們，諸如：「人生要為愛留點空間」與「人生當父母才有樂趣」，以及不太具有催情效果的「如果養得起，請生三胎以上」。
隨著一九八○年代末期出現一股短暫的嬰兒潮，政府不禁鬆了一口氣。然而，這個現象持續的時間並不長，不久，生育荒的情形又開始擴大。二○○○年，李光耀的接班人吳作棟推出了現金的「幼兒津貼」。李顯龍在二○○四年上任，將產假延長為三個月，國家也投入更深，資助「支持生育」的慈善團體，包括「我愛孩子」、「職業母親論壇」與「職業父母」。
這些努力毫無成果。在新加坡實施了全世界持續時間最長的提倡生育政策的二十年後，生育率反倒比原本還低。該國在二○○九年的生育率為一．一，不但是全球最低，也連續五年低於一．三。政府顧問暨新加坡大學社會學家葉梅婷向我說明了這個問題：「他們當初致力降低生育率，社會與個人的目標是一致的，所以改變的速度非常快。可是現在個人與社會卻是朝著不同方向互相拉扯——而且個人逐漸佔了上風。」新加坡是全球唯一由政府扮演紅娘的國家。該國政府認為，有一部分的問題在於人民太害羞、工作太忙，以致沒有機會找到合適的伴侶。因此，政府成立了「網路一線牽」（Lovebyte）的婚配服務網站，其中不但有愛情博士提供諮詢，也有個人衛生的建議文章。此外，還有「愛在新加坡」（Romancingsingapore）網站。最近的一個新構想，則是為高等學府的學生開辦「情感關係」課程。民間對於政府鼓勵情愛、性行為與生育的做法普遍抱持冷眼以對的態度。有個老笑話說，社會發展署的首字母縮寫其實代表了「單身、飢渴又沒人要」。（譯註）一位名叫阿卡莎的年輕公關主管對我說：「這麼多的宣傳只會讓人興趣缺缺。大家都說政府不該插手管這種事情。」
民間紅娘能夠交出更好的成績嗎？他們倒是善加利用了政府極力想要得知這一點的心態，「心心相印」（Heart2Heart Connect）、「電影約會」（gomoviedate.com）與「二○四○俱樂部」（Club2040）都獲得政府資助，而且二○四○俱樂部還號稱其舉辦的快速約會創下了人數最多的世界紀錄。這種現象聽起來像是專制威權政府加上荒唐鬧劇的結果。若是在其他國家，這種宣傳活動只稱得上是一種拙劣手法，用於協助少數年輕人度過人生中一段難熬的時期。但在新加坡，這卻是攸關國家命脈。新加坡的華裔孩子結婚的比例太低了，葉梅婷說。這不僅是欠缺社交技巧造成的結果。她指出，在男性當中，教育程度低的人口，結婚的人數也最少。在沒有接受過中學教育的男性當中，超過四分之一到了四十歲仍然未婚，這個比例是男性大學畢業生的兩倍。女性的情形剛好相反。沒有中學學歷的女性，到了四十歲還單身的只有一○％，而大學畢業的女性則是有三○％。問題似乎是這樣：受過教育的職業婦女對於婚姻深懷戒心，因為結婚可能會對她們追求事業的抱負造成阻礙。而且，她們也不想和教育程度比自己低的男人交往，至少絕對不會挑選這樣的結婚對象。教育程度高的男人和教育程度低的女人相配似乎沒什麼問題，但教育程度低的男人根本毫無機會。現在，許多教育程度低的男性都只好找尋外國伴侶，不論是中國與越南的鄉村姑娘，還是泰國妓院裡的妓女。
至於孩子呢？新加坡仍然有些孩子。我到新加坡國立大學醫院拜訪該國頂尖的小兒科醫師丹尼爾．高（Daniel Goh）。他的候診室是我在新加坡唯一看到兒童的地方。我不禁大吃一驚，因為我差點都忘了這個國家還有兒童存在。新加坡的兒童人數非常少，而且絕大部分的時間都在學校裡上課，不然就是在城裡各地的公寓大樓裡忙著寫作業。新加坡的教育體系非常注重學業，孩子必須不斷接受評量，並且嚴格區分等級。海報上的口號雖然寫著「人生當父母才有樂趣」，但在競爭激烈的教育環境裡，父母和子女都同樣背負著龐大的壓力。因此，新加坡不但愈來愈少人結婚，結婚之後生孩子的夫妻又更少。那些願意生孩子的夫妻，則是愈來愈多都以一胎為限。丹尼爾．高指出：「我看到愈來愈多的夫妻都不生小孩。以前，這種情形是不被社會接受的，現在卻成了常態。」
問題是，新加坡的經濟與社會政策互相衝突。四分之一的母親表示，只要政府提供比較好的兒童托育服務及更彈性的工作時間，她們就願意多生孩子。然而，雇主不肯順應這樣的要求，政府也不願強迫他們。
新加坡似乎是個不再喜歡孩子的社會，也忘卻了生孩子的習慣。該國首席人口學家賈文．伊凡斯（Gavin Evans）指稱，社會規範正在改變。「可以在各種小事情上看得出來。《海峽時報》近來刊登了一連串的抱怨投書，指稱父母在購物中心裡推著嬰兒車橫衝直撞。其中一份投書是這麼寫的：『父母應該把孩子留在家裡。』對於某些人而言，小孩似乎是不受認可的社會成員。這樣的現象實在令人憂心。我有四個兄弟姐妹，我太太有兩個，所以我們都喜歡小孩。
我們都習慣家裡有小孩。不過，我可以想像得到在未來，小家庭孕育出來的下一代仍是小家庭。大眾會忘卻有小孩的習慣。」目前三十世代的許多人口，每天都工作到很晚，下班後又到酒吧、俱樂部或餐廳放鬆，這些人早就忘卻了有小孩的生活。
李顯龍在二○○八年推出鼓勵生育的新措施之後，才幾個星期就發生了金融風暴。危機爆發之初，新加坡媒體所刊登的報導其中一篇的標題是「沒錢沒婚姻」。數以千計早已排定的婚禮都因為當事人不再負擔得起而延期，就連約會活動也紛紛喊停。
（本文轉載福瑞德‧皮爾斯新書《人口大震盪》，由天下雜誌出版）
全文網址: 放眼望去 為何不見新加坡的孩子們？ - 人口大震盪 - 全球書選 - udn全球觀察 http://mag.udn.com/mag/world/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=378600#ixzz1sJI7qSbb
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克魯曼專欄／歐洲 走向經濟自殺末路
【經濟日報╱編譯吳國卿】
2012.04.17 11:51 am
泰晤士報上周六報導有一種愈來愈嚴重的現象：「經濟危機造成自殺」，因為失業和生意失敗讓人絕望而結束自己的生命。這是令人心碎的報導，但更嚴重的問題不在個人的自殺，而在歐洲領導人顯然已決心帶領整個歐陸步向經濟自殺。我相信我不是唯一這麼認為的人，尤其是在經濟學家間。
幾個月前我還覺得歐洲有一線希望。你可以回想去年秋末歐洲似乎瀕臨金融崩潰；幸好歐洲央行（ECB）出手救援，提供歐洲銀行業者無限量的信用，只要它們以歐洲政府債券當作擔保；此舉直接支援歐洲的銀行，並間接支援政府，因而化解了市場的恐慌。
當時的問題是，這個勇敢而有效的行動會不會是某種更大反思的開始，歐洲領導人是否將善用ECB創造的喘息空間，重新思考造成今日這個地步的政策。
但歐洲領導人非但沒有重作思考，反而加倍押注他們錯誤的政策和思維。而現在已經讓人很難相信有任何方法可以改變方向了。
想想現在已是危機震央的西班牙。西國現在不只是衰退，而是全面蕭條，總失業率達到23.6%，相當於美國在大蕭條谷底時的水準，西國年輕人的失業率甚至超過50%。這不能繼續下去—市場已意識到這一點，而這是西班牙借貸成本再度走高的原因。
就某方面看，西國如何變成今日的情況並不重要—重要的是值得嗎？西班牙的情況與歐洲（特別是德國）官員喜歡掛在嘴邊的道德故事沒有相似之處。西班牙並未揮霍財政資源—在危機前夕，西國債務低，而且有預算盈餘。不幸的是，西國也有巨大的房市泡沫，部分原因是由德國銀行大量放款給西國銀行所造成。當泡沫破滅，西班牙經濟陷於四面楚歌；西國的財政問題是蕭條的結果，不是原因。
儘管如此，不難想見的是，柏林和法蘭克福的處方是更嚴厲的撙節措施。
坦白說，這簡直是瘋狂。歐洲曾經歷過幾年的嚴厲撙節計畫，其結果正是歷史系學生可以告訴你會發生的事：這類計畫會把困頓的經濟體推向更深的蕭條。而因為投資人在評估一國償債能力時就是看經濟表現，所以撙節措施完全無助於降低借貸成本。
有什麼替代選項？在1930年代—一個現代歐洲連許多細節都在重演的時代—復甦的必要條件是退出金本位制。同樣的，現在必要的行動是退出歐元，並恢復國家貨幣。你可能說這是無法想像的事，而這確實是經濟和政治上極具破壞力的事，但如果繼續走今日的路，對那些失業率已達蕭條時代水準的國家施加更嚴厲的撙節措施，才是真的無法想像。
如果歐洲領導人真想挽救歐元，就必須尋找不同的道路。而這個替代選項的輪廓實際上相當清楚。歐陸需要更擴張的貨幣政策，其作法是ECB必須明白宣示願意接受較高的通貨膨脹；ECB也需要更擴張的財政政策，其作法是德國擴增預算，以彌補西班牙和其他困頓歐陸周邊國家的撙節，而非強化它。即使採取這些政策，周邊國家仍得面對幾年的艱苦日子，但至少會有一些復甦希望。
不過，我們實際上看到的是完全缺乏彈性。歐洲領導人3月簽署的財政協議，等於把財政撙節當作任何問題的唯一對策。另方面，ECB主要官員已明白表示，只要出現任何通膨升高跡象就願意提高利率。
所以要想不感到絕望也難。歐洲領導人非但不承認犯錯，反而決心把他們的經濟—和社會—推落懸崖。而全世界將為此付出代價。
（作者Paul Krugman是紐約時報專欄作家）
【2012/04/17 經濟日報】
全文網址: 克魯曼專欄／歐洲 走向經濟自殺末路 | 國際財經 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR2/7032340.shtml#ixzz1sIs6nd4A
Power By udn.com
2012.04.17 11:51 am
泰晤士報上周六報導有一種愈來愈嚴重的現象：「經濟危機造成自殺」，因為失業和生意失敗讓人絕望而結束自己的生命。這是令人心碎的報導，但更嚴重的問題不在個人的自殺，而在歐洲領導人顯然已決心帶領整個歐陸步向經濟自殺。我相信我不是唯一這麼認為的人，尤其是在經濟學家間。
幾個月前我還覺得歐洲有一線希望。你可以回想去年秋末歐洲似乎瀕臨金融崩潰；幸好歐洲央行（ECB）出手救援，提供歐洲銀行業者無限量的信用，只要它們以歐洲政府債券當作擔保；此舉直接支援歐洲的銀行，並間接支援政府，因而化解了市場的恐慌。
當時的問題是，這個勇敢而有效的行動會不會是某種更大反思的開始，歐洲領導人是否將善用ECB創造的喘息空間，重新思考造成今日這個地步的政策。
但歐洲領導人非但沒有重作思考，反而加倍押注他們錯誤的政策和思維。而現在已經讓人很難相信有任何方法可以改變方向了。
想想現在已是危機震央的西班牙。西國現在不只是衰退，而是全面蕭條，總失業率達到23.6%，相當於美國在大蕭條谷底時的水準，西國年輕人的失業率甚至超過50%。這不能繼續下去—市場已意識到這一點，而這是西班牙借貸成本再度走高的原因。
就某方面看，西國如何變成今日的情況並不重要—重要的是值得嗎？西班牙的情況與歐洲（特別是德國）官員喜歡掛在嘴邊的道德故事沒有相似之處。西班牙並未揮霍財政資源—在危機前夕，西國債務低，而且有預算盈餘。不幸的是，西國也有巨大的房市泡沫，部分原因是由德國銀行大量放款給西國銀行所造成。當泡沫破滅，西班牙經濟陷於四面楚歌；西國的財政問題是蕭條的結果，不是原因。
儘管如此，不難想見的是，柏林和法蘭克福的處方是更嚴厲的撙節措施。
坦白說，這簡直是瘋狂。歐洲曾經歷過幾年的嚴厲撙節計畫，其結果正是歷史系學生可以告訴你會發生的事：這類計畫會把困頓的經濟體推向更深的蕭條。而因為投資人在評估一國償債能力時就是看經濟表現，所以撙節措施完全無助於降低借貸成本。
有什麼替代選項？在1930年代—一個現代歐洲連許多細節都在重演的時代—復甦的必要條件是退出金本位制。同樣的，現在必要的行動是退出歐元，並恢復國家貨幣。你可能說這是無法想像的事，而這確實是經濟和政治上極具破壞力的事，但如果繼續走今日的路，對那些失業率已達蕭條時代水準的國家施加更嚴厲的撙節措施，才是真的無法想像。
如果歐洲領導人真想挽救歐元，就必須尋找不同的道路。而這個替代選項的輪廓實際上相當清楚。歐陸需要更擴張的貨幣政策，其作法是ECB必須明白宣示願意接受較高的通貨膨脹；ECB也需要更擴張的財政政策，其作法是德國擴增預算，以彌補西班牙和其他困頓歐陸周邊國家的撙節，而非強化它。即使採取這些政策，周邊國家仍得面對幾年的艱苦日子，但至少會有一些復甦希望。
不過，我們實際上看到的是完全缺乏彈性。歐洲領導人3月簽署的財政協議，等於把財政撙節當作任何問題的唯一對策。另方面，ECB主要官員已明白表示，只要出現任何通膨升高跡象就願意提高利率。
所以要想不感到絕望也難。歐洲領導人非但不承認犯錯，反而決心把他們的經濟—和社會—推落懸崖。而全世界將為此付出代價。
（作者Paul Krugman是紐約時報專欄作家）
【2012/04/17 經濟日報】
全文網址: 克魯曼專欄／歐洲 走向經濟自殺末路 | 國際財經 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR2/7032340.shtml#ixzz1sIs6nd4A
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Monday, April 16, 2012
要不到錢 騎車撞母再輾過手
【聯合報╱記者陳崑福／屏東縣報導】
2012.04.16 03:23 am
唐姓男子向母親要錢被拒開罵，被依家暴法處拘役十天，前晚他以被判拘役都是母親害的為由，要母親賠錢未果，涉嫌騎機車撞倒母親再輾過母親手臂，然後若無其事到浴室洗澡，警方將他函送，唐還趕到醫院「糾纏」母親。
在醫院的唐母受不了再度報警，警方通知社工配合處理，唐不聽勸，員警警告他，再不讓母親好好治病，要向檢察官聲請拘票，將他拘提送辦，「把你關起來」，唐才悻悻然離開。
警方調查，唐姓男子（四十七歲）前晚從高雄騎機車回潮州找母親，指母親兩年前不給他錢用，他生氣開罵，母親卻報警，害他被依家暴法判拘役十天，他沒錢繳交罰金，被關了十天，認為都是母親害的，要母親賠他這筆錢。
警方說，唐母不識字，靠撿拾廢紙販賣收入過活，積欠健保費，生病都不敢就醫，實在拿不出錢，唐不信，騎機車將母親撞倒，見母親無法馬上爬起來，再騎車輾過手臂，隨即轉身進入屋內。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 要不到錢 騎車撞母再輾過手 | 重案追緝 | 社會新聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/SOCIETY/SOC1/7030245.shtml#comments#ixzz1sDJiQr4s
Power By udn.com
2012.04.16 03:23 am
唐姓男子向母親要錢被拒開罵，被依家暴法處拘役十天，前晚他以被判拘役都是母親害的為由，要母親賠錢未果，涉嫌騎機車撞倒母親再輾過母親手臂，然後若無其事到浴室洗澡，警方將他函送，唐還趕到醫院「糾纏」母親。
在醫院的唐母受不了再度報警，警方通知社工配合處理，唐不聽勸，員警警告他，再不讓母親好好治病，要向檢察官聲請拘票，將他拘提送辦，「把你關起來」，唐才悻悻然離開。
警方調查，唐姓男子（四十七歲）前晚從高雄騎機車回潮州找母親，指母親兩年前不給他錢用，他生氣開罵，母親卻報警，害他被依家暴法判拘役十天，他沒錢繳交罰金，被關了十天，認為都是母親害的，要母親賠他這筆錢。
警方說，唐母不識字，靠撿拾廢紙販賣收入過活，積欠健保費，生病都不敢就醫，實在拿不出錢，唐不信，騎機車將母親撞倒，見母親無法馬上爬起來，再騎車輾過手臂，隨即轉身進入屋內。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
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Power By udn.com
1 year after suicide, new details emerge about Calvo’s suspension
By Marcelo Rochabrun and Anjali Menon
Staff Writers
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Published: Monday, April 16th, 2012
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Photo by Meredith Wright
Senior lecturer Antonio Calvo’s office in East Pyne remains empty one year after his death.
A year has passed since senior lecturer Antonio Calvo committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment, and gone are the affectionate notes posted by students, colleagues and friends that lined his door in the days following his death. But his old office in East Pyne Hall still sits empty and unused.
Many questions remain about the circumstances surrounding his suicide on April 12, 2011. But an investigation by The Daily Princetonian has uncovered previously unreleased details about the University inquiry that led to his suspension and how Calvo spent the final days of his life.
In fall 2010, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures recommended Calvo, a senior lecturer in the department, for reappointment to his three-year contract position. Calvo’s case then passed to the University’s Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements, more commonly known as the Committee of Three.
But Calvo soon realized that his reappointment was under special scrutiny by the Committee, only months after tenured faculty in his own department had approved his position. On Friday, April 8, rather than hearing that his contract had been renewed or left to expire, Calvo was notified by Spanish department chair Gabriela Nouzeilles of the University’s decision to suspend him on the basis of improper conduct, effective immediately. Four days later, Calvo committed suicide.
To this day, the University has not wavered from its silence on the case, despite global media attention that continued for months after his death. But despite the University’s decision not to talk, friends and colleagues have continued to gather information over the past 12 months.
Most notably, new details show that Nassau Hall conducted oral interviews of graduate students and at least one lecturer in spring 2011 after receiving unsolicited complaints about Calvo. According to several University documents reviewed, these types of interviews are not a part of the typical reappointment process for senior lecturers.
In fact, the University suspended Calvo before it had completed its internal investigation and before it allowed Calvo the opportunity to challenge the allegations.
While the University contacted these complainants as part of its interviews, it is unclear whether the University interviewed the tenured faculty members in Calvo’s department who had previously recommended him for reappointment.
Furthermore, contrary to the reporting of some media outlets, Calvo had not been in isolation in the days preceding his suicide but had actually been in contact with at least one colleague at Princeton and met with a lawyer.
The ‘Prince’ contacted more than 40 friends, family members and colleagues of Calvo to develop this article, in addition to reviewing University documents related to the case. Many of the interviews were conducted in Spanish, and two sources were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information they disclosed.
University officials either declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment or confirmation of multiple elements of this article. President Shirley Tilghman said in an email last Tuesday that due to travel plans she did not have time to respond. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin and Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano did not respond to requests for comment. Visits to Dobkin’s and Turano’s offices were answered by their staff, who said the officials’ schedules did not allow time to speak with the ‘Prince’ about this story.
Tenured members of the Spanish department, including Nouzeilles, either did not respond or declined to comment.
Following review, suspension nears
Calvo joined the University in 2000 as a lecturer in the then-Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. In 2008, he was promoted to senior lecturer, a non-tenure track position, and given a three-year contract that would expire at the end of the 2010-11 academic year. During his time at Princeton, he was also appointed director of the Spanish Language Program, assuming supervision of over 30 graduate students and lecturers who teach undergraduate Spanish courses. In addition, he had organized the inaugural trip of the Princeton-in-Spain program in Toledo in the summer of 2008.
At the time of his suspension, Calvo was reaching the end of his first three-year term as a senior lecturer and awaited reappointment. The routine two-stage process consisted of both a departmental and an administrative review, as described by the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty.
While his department recommended renewal of his contract in the fall, problems arose once the proposal progressed to the Committee of Three, the second stage of the process, in the spring.
Calvo was well aware of this initial endorsement, several friends confirmed.
“That reassured Antonio,” said a close friend in an email written in Spanish. The friend was granted anonymity because the friend had received threatening emails and phone calls in the past for prior comments on the controversy.
However, complications in the review process arose late in 2010, according to Flor Gragera de Leon, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who had left the University prior to Calvo’s reevaluation.
“I started to hear rumors in November 2010 that there was a group of graduate students and a lecturer organizing a campaign against Antonio,” she said in an email written in Spanish.
Calvo’s friends said his anxiety continued to grow during March 2011 as he waited to hear from the Committee.
“Antonio told me that even though the department had recommended him to have his contract renewed in the fall, the process had been delayed by the administration because some of his subordinates had presented complaints,” the friend explained.
“I spoke with Antonio a month before his suicide in mid-March. Antonio was worried, he told me he had not slept in months and that he felt the pains of having to go to work every day,” Gragera de Leon added.
The Daily Princetonian had access to an email that Calvo sent to a friend on March 24 detailing his growing worries at Princeton. In the email, Calvo expressed frustration that his reappointment process had been upset by personal attacks and complaints despite the fact that he had already earned his department’s nod of approval. Calvo also doubted whether he would continue in the academic world if his contract were not renewed.
Even though Calvo’s frustration grew in the days following the email, the friend said, his commitment to his job did not wane. The friend saw him for the last time a week before Calvo’s suspension and said that by then Calvo was not eating or sleeping well.
“I saw him spend four hours working on the schedules [of the Spanish language program] for fall 2011,” the friend said.
Although Calvo confided worries about his job security to his friends throughout the last few months of his life, his family and undergraduate students had little idea he was going through such a difficult moment, they said.
Santiago Calvo, Antonio’s brother, said he remembered hearing that his brother’s worries about his contract renewal did not seem to be too serious.
“He told us only as a passing note — that there were some issues and that by apologizing they would be solved,” Santiago said during an interview when reached in Spain.
But not everyone close to Calvo knew the lecturer was under such stress. Ricardo Lopez ’12, a Spanish concentrator who met Calvo his freshman year and later took Calvo’s course SPA 307: Advanced Spanish Language and Style, said he had not noticed anything different in Calvo’s health or behavior.
“We ran a Spanish open house ... and he was fine,” Lopez said, referring to an event that took place only days before Calvo’s suspension and suicide. “We agreed to have dinner a couple of weeks from then.” The open house was the last time he saw Calvo.
A torturous weekend
On Thursday, April 7, Calvo received an email from Nouzeilles, the chair of the Spanish department, according to a former colleague who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
The email asked Calvo to come to Nouzeilles’ office the following day at noon before his regular SPA 307 class at 12:30 p.m. At that meeting, Nouzeilles informed Calvo of his suspension and handed him a letter signed by her. The letter, which cited “multiple sources,” accused him of “engaging in extremely troubling and inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” according to a report published in The New York Times at the time. The letter did not provide more details on the allegations.
A plain-clothed security guard was waiting outside Nouzeilles’ office to collect Calvo’s University ID card, keys and student coursework. The security guard then escorted Calvo to the steps of East Pyne, the former colleague said. Calvo also lost access to his University email account.
Later that day, no instructor substituted for Calvo to teach his Friday class. “He wasn’t there Friday, and there was no email or anything explaining why he was gone,” Rachele Gyorffy ’13 told the ‘Prince’ last April.
There is still no explanation as to why a substitute teacher was not assigned even though Calvo’s scheduled meeting with Nouzeilles suggests that she knew he would not be able to teach his class that day.
Nouzeilles did not respond to a request for comment.
The ‘Prince’ had access to previously unpublished sections of Calvo’s suspension letter that shed light on how further communication between Calvo and the University would proceed.
The letter said Calvo should expect a phone call at his home in Chelsea, N.Y., from Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano on Monday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. Turano would inform Calvo of the specific accusations made against him and provide him with an opportunity to respond. Only if he had not received a call by 9:15 a.m. was he to contact Turano himself.
No sources interviewed by the ‘Prince’ could confirm if the phone call ever took place.
The letter added that Calvo could present an appeal to the Committee on Conference and Faculty Appeal. However, because Calvo had to set up an interview with Turano, he would effectively have had to present his appeal to Turano first and then request a formal appeals process with the Committee.
Since the University would no longer sponsor Calvo’s work visa, he would have to return to Spain within the month if he were not reappointed. As Calvo noted in the email sent on March 24 to a friend, Calvo had not looked for a new job at the January 2011 Modern Languages Association Convention where most language lecturers are hired.
Marco Aponte-Moreno, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who now teaches at University College London, said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, after receiving the suspension letter, Calvo planned to contest the decision.
“The weekend was unbearable for him, he couldn’t sleep. At first he wanted to fight the case. He knew he had not done anything wrong. He was going to show up at Princeton with a lawyer,” he said.
However, Calvo’s resolve to defend himself apparently broke over the weekend. On Saturday, April 9, Calvo made an entry in his notebook. “The emotional torture of the months-long wait has become unbearable in my job,” it read, according to a translation provided to The New York Times.
Contrary to initial reporting, Calvo did not spend the weekend before the phone call in isolation. A former colleague said Calvo met with a lawyer on Saturday to discuss his legal options. Calvo was also in touch with the faculty members that would take over his courses.
Calvo spoke that weekend by phone with Alberto Bruzos Moro, a Spanish lecturer and now acting director of the Spanish language program. Bruzos Moro replaced Calvo as instructor of SPA 307 after Calvo’s suspension.
“I spoke with him for an hour. We talked about classes but also about personal matters,” he said in an interview in Spanish. “The conversation did not give me any clue nor any impression of what was later going to happen,” he added.
On Monday, April 11, Calvo’s students in SPA 307 were met by Bruzos Moro, acting as a substitute teacher.
“Our sub on Monday just said that [Calvo] was taking time off for personal reasons and that he didn’t know how long Antonio would be gone,” Gyorffy, the student in his class, said at the time.
“The line we got was that he was fine, that there were some personal problems. We all just assumed that something had happened in his family,” said Flora Thomson-DeVeaux ’13, who was not in Calvo’s class but expected to meet Calvo at a Spanish language table that evening.
Meanwhile, Calvo mailed a package that Monday containing a copy of his suspension letter attached to a personal note to a close friend in New York, Christopher Neely, a fact confirmed by multiple sources including Calvo’s brother. After receiving the letter on Tuesday and failing to reach Calvo by phone, Neely visited Calvo’s apartment.
Neely did not respond to a request for comment. Santiago Calvo, who talked to Neely, recounted how the events unfolded.
“In that letter, [Antonio] didn’t say what he was going to do, but he wrote many hard-hitting things, and the friend suspected that something was going on,” Santiago said. “He went to [Antonio’s] house, and, when he saw he wasn’t opening the door, he asked the doorman, who told him that without the presence of the police he could not open the door. This was on Tuesday morning,” he added.
When the police entered the apartment, they discovered Calvo’s body.
“Passed away” or suicide?
According to his brother, Antonio Calvo had left his computer on and had typed the name and phone number of a family member, who resides in the United States, on the screen for the police to contact when they found his body.
Santiago Calvo said the family member informed relatives in Spain at 4 a.m. Spanish time Wednesday morning.
Although the family learned of his death that day, the University did not release a statement announcing the news until 10 p.m. on Friday, April 15, saying that Calvo had “passed away” and was “on leave at the time.”
Only on the following Tuesday did the press reveal that the cause of death had been a suicide.
The family said some relatives knew since the beginning that Calvo’s death was a suicide and that he was not simply on leave at the time of his death.
“Only my sister and my other brother knew [it had been a suicide],” Santiago Calvo said. “My father didn’t know because we didn’t tell him.”
Part of Calvo’s letter to Neely said that Calvo did not want his father to know he had committed suicide.
The family arranged a funeral for Calvo on Tuesday, April 19, in his hometown in Spain where his father and other family members still reside.
Those who attended the funeral were not told about the real cause of death, Santiago Calvo said.
“I wanted it to be a quiet funeral. If someone asked [about the cause of death] we responded that we didn’t know yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, April 18, the University revised its online statement to reflect new information about the date of Calvo’s death. However, the note was never updated with the information about the suicide or the fact that Calvo had been suspended on April 8 rather than choosing to go on leave.
On Tuesday, Philip Rothaus ’11, a Spanish concentrator and a self-described friend of Calvo, circulated an open letter to Nassau Hall in which he said that Calvo had committed suicide following his suspension and condemned the University for what he claimed were misrepresentations of the facts.
“To the administration: You are denying us the information we have a right to know about our professor and our beloved friend. You are denying us closure,” he wrote last year.
“He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
A full year later, the University has not released information about the exact allegations against Calvo. After approaching multiple faculty members for an explanation of the suspension, Rothaus said he came to an understanding that the department was not allowed to speak on the matter.
“More than one professor told me that I was not supposed to know about any of this,” he said in an interview last week.
Friends and family of Calvo said the senior lecturer clashed with some graduate students and a lecturer.
Several sources repeatedly mentioned the names of three graduate students in particular. These three students had also taught SPA 102: Beginner’s Spanish II under Calvo’s direct coordination in spring 2008, according to data retrieved from Blackboard. However, no one in the University confirmed their names or involvement in the case. None of the implicated students responded to requests for comment by the ‘Prince.’
Calvo’s position required extensive interaction with graduate students and lecturers to supervise their teaching. According to Aponte-Moreno’s statement, some graduate students did not fulfill their teaching responsibilities properly — including arriving late or canceling classes altogether — causing clashes between them and Calvo.
“There were some graduate students and lecturers under his supervision who didn’t like him,” Aponte-Moreno said.
There were at least two incidents in which Calvo used particularly harsh language with graduate students to express his disappointment in their work. The first involved an email sent to a male graduate students, in which Calvo told him to “stop touching [his] balls and get to work,” in Spanish. According to Calvo’s friends, this Spanish colloquial expression was taken too literally by the administration.
“He had told us that an email he sent had resulted in a stir, but that it was nothing more than an anecdote since he had offered apologies,” Santiago Calvo said. “He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
In another incident, Calvo allegedly threatened a female graduate student by stating she deserved to be slapped in the face for her lack of effort. He then apparently clapped his hands in front of her face to illustrate the point.
Calvo indicated in a March 24 email to a friend that he was aware he was facing allegations from his subordinates. Calvo added that a friend at another university had had similar problems with graduate students, but Calvo did not elaborate on the nature of these issues.
On top of these clashes, Calvo also ran into problems with at least one lecturer in the department.
Santiago Calvo said he remembered that his brother had expressed frustration about having to hire Spanish lecturer Paloma Moscardo-Valles in 2006. “The reason was that he was forced to work with her when she was unqualified. It was all because her husband had been hired to work at Princeton,” Santiago said. The University has in the past come under scrutiny for allegedly attracting a professor by offering a position to his or her spouse.
Moscardo-Valles did not respond a request for comment.
Far from routine, a series of oral interviews
The ‘Prince’ review of the circumstances surrounding the case show there are a number of inconsistencies and gaps in the University’s explanation of the events.
While friends of Calvo openly confirm that the administration had been conducting oral interviews of graduate students and lecturers, members of the Spanish department are reluctant to speak about the additional review. Tenured faculty members did not respond to a request for comment on these interviews, and one lecturer neither confirmed nor denied that they took place.
“If I had been interviewed, I would not be able to say anything because that process would have been confidential,” said Bruzos Moro, the lecturer who taught Calvo’s class after his departure and took over his position as director of the Spanish Language Program.
However, Jorge Mendez Seijas, another Spanish lecturer, said he had heard about these interviews.
“Everybody knew that interviews were being carried out,” Mendez Seijas said, noting that this happened during his second semester at Princeton so he could not say whether this process was normal.
These interviews may have been instigated by the complaints presented by some of Calvo’s subordinates, effectively launching a new investigation. Even if members of the Spanish department had been aware of these allegations, they still chose to recommend Calvo in the fall.
It is unclear whether tenured faculty members were consulted in the spring 2011 investigation. However, all of the sources that spoke with the ‘Prince’ shared the view that the administration did not circle back with the same faculty members that had previously recommended Calvo for reappointment.
The University’s decision to conduct oral interviews was a departure from a routine review process but within the authority of the Committee of Three. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty posts all forms required for faculty reappointment and promotion on its website.
When recommending Calvo’s reappointment to the Committee, Nouzeilles would have had to follow the instructions listed in the “Department Chair Checklist for C/3 new appointments and promotions” form that was current during that spring. According to this form, the Committee would consider supporting materials such as course evaluations and letters from students and lecturers. Nowhere on the form are oral interviews mentioned.
Following Calvo’s suicide, the administration posted a new department chair checklist specific to the reappointment of senior lecturers and also updated rules regarding the reappointment of senior lecturers. These updates, however, still do not mention interviews.
These interviews represented an investigation into Calvo’s work and conduct that was separate from the routine reappointment process and may offer an explanation as to why he was suspended midway through the semester rather than letting his contract expire.
In an April statement to the ‘Prince,’ Tilghman explained that the Committee of Three has the power to initiate an investigation.
Tilghman wrote that “if any allegations of improper conduct arise in the course of the review, they must be thoroughly investigated and the findings reported to the [Committee of Three].”
According to the University’s Rules and Procedures, grounds for suspension are limited to “(a) substantial and manifest incompetence, (b) substantial and manifest neglect of duty or (c) conduct which is shown to violate the University rules ... or substantially to impair the individual’s performance.”
But the procedures for suspension have not been updated since 1951 and only refer to assistant, associate and full professors. Calvo’s position as a senior lecturer is not referred to in the rules.
Furthermore, the rules say that the power to suspend a faculty member does not lie in the Committee of Three or in the academic departments; it lies in the president and the Board of Trustees. It is not clear, then, why Calvo’s suspension letter was signed and handed to him by Nouzeilles, the department chair.
In addition, a suspended faculty member “shall receive a statement in writing of the reasons for the action and shall be entitled to ... a hearing before the [Committee of Three].”
Calvo was not told the reasoning behind the suspension in the letter. Instead, he was to be informed of the allegations against him in an interview with Turano, an associate dean of the faculty, according to his suspension letter.
In that same interview, he would be asked to respond to allegations that would be presented to him for the first time. Only after that interview would he have the opportunity to appeal his case.
The letter also makes clear that the University suspended Calvo before it had closed its investigation into him.
In addition, Calvo’s department is not among the academic departments and programs listed in the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty. The document instead includes the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, which ceased to exist in 2001. This section of the rules has not been updated since 1994.
These inconsistencies indicate that the University’s Rules and Procedures is still out-of-date in many respects.
Tilghman declined to comment when presented with these observations last week. Durkee and Dobkin also did not respond.
However, the University has not always been as tight-lipped about faculty suspensions in the past.
In 1971, when civil and geological engineering professor Roger DeWiest was suspended for neglecting and not attending his own classes, the letter sent to him was made public. It was signed by then-University president Robert Goheen.
More recently, in 2004, when English professor Lee Mitchell was suspended for misuse of funds, Durkee told the ‘Prince’ that, given the circumstances, people deserved to know the reasons for his suspension.
One year later, a silent University
The University has only spoken about Calvo’s suspension three times.
In a statement on April 25, after mounting public pressure, Tilghman told the University community that standard procedures had been followed in Calvo’s case but refused to disclose any details to “protect the privacy of the individual faculty [member] and his or her family.”
But Calvo’s family openly admits their disappointment with the way the University has handled the case, although they are reluctant to point fingers at specific individuals.
“What it all comes down to is that I think [Antonio’s] father deserves respect, and no one [from the University] ever reached out to him,” Santiago Calvo said. “The only thing we would have contented ourselves with is if the University had contacted my father and, at least, cheered him up.”
Antonio Calvo’s friends have also expressed similar sentiments toward the University, criticizing the evaluation process itself, the lack of known reasons to validate Calvo’s suspension and the handling of the actual suspension.
“Why was he treated like that? Why did no one talk to him before he was banned from campus and from his office? Who was interested in having Antonio fired?” one of Calvo’s friends said.
The second University statement came in the form of a rebuttal sent to El Pais, a prominent Spanish newspaper, after then-Professor Ricardo Piglia had written that “in Calvo’s 10 years at Princeton, there was not a single fact that justified the decision [to suspend him].”
Cass Cliatt ’96, the University spokesperson at the time, replied to the newspaper that Piglia had “no firsthand knowledge of the information available to the Committee.” Piglia had been at the University in fall 2011, teaching and participating in the departmental review process, before embarking on a sabbatical in the spring semester.
Piglia declined to comment for this article.
But by far the most controversial University response was made by Durkee in an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education late last June, explaining that Calvo’s suicide had validated the University’s concern about his potential violent tendencies.
Calvo’s family, however, has constantly challenged this claim.
“He wasn’t aggressive, and here lies the proof: His students liked him,” Santiago Calvo said. “That is a lie.”
Questions unanswered
Not only have his friends and family been affected by the suicide and the speculation in the press that followed, but it has also taken a toll on the Spanish department.
“The group of people that works here had a very bad time,” Bruzos Moro, the lecturer, said. “With time I think we have been able to get over it, although it is clearly something that cannot be forgotten,” he added.
However, Santiago Calvo said that no one from the Spanish department has contacted the family. Calvo’s friend also questioned the department’s silence.
“Antonio always spoke wonders about his colleagues, but now no one has spoken up,” the friend said.
Questions abound for Calvo’s friends and former students, who also lament the way he was treated by the University.
“Why didn’t the University give him a chance to defend himself before asking him to leave the premises?” Aponte-Moreno said.
“Frankly, I would like to know why they suspended him,” Lopez said.
But Santiago notes that Calvo’s death has left them powerless to answer these questions.
“The University may say whatever it wants,” Santiago Calvo said. “He is no longer here to defend himself.”
Staff Writers
Print article Email article Respond to article
Published: Monday, April 16th, 2012
Purchase this photo
Photo by Meredith Wright
Senior lecturer Antonio Calvo’s office in East Pyne remains empty one year after his death.
A year has passed since senior lecturer Antonio Calvo committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment, and gone are the affectionate notes posted by students, colleagues and friends that lined his door in the days following his death. But his old office in East Pyne Hall still sits empty and unused.
Many questions remain about the circumstances surrounding his suicide on April 12, 2011. But an investigation by The Daily Princetonian has uncovered previously unreleased details about the University inquiry that led to his suspension and how Calvo spent the final days of his life.
In fall 2010, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures recommended Calvo, a senior lecturer in the department, for reappointment to his three-year contract position. Calvo’s case then passed to the University’s Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements, more commonly known as the Committee of Three.
But Calvo soon realized that his reappointment was under special scrutiny by the Committee, only months after tenured faculty in his own department had approved his position. On Friday, April 8, rather than hearing that his contract had been renewed or left to expire, Calvo was notified by Spanish department chair Gabriela Nouzeilles of the University’s decision to suspend him on the basis of improper conduct, effective immediately. Four days later, Calvo committed suicide.
To this day, the University has not wavered from its silence on the case, despite global media attention that continued for months after his death. But despite the University’s decision not to talk, friends and colleagues have continued to gather information over the past 12 months.
Most notably, new details show that Nassau Hall conducted oral interviews of graduate students and at least one lecturer in spring 2011 after receiving unsolicited complaints about Calvo. According to several University documents reviewed, these types of interviews are not a part of the typical reappointment process for senior lecturers.
In fact, the University suspended Calvo before it had completed its internal investigation and before it allowed Calvo the opportunity to challenge the allegations.
While the University contacted these complainants as part of its interviews, it is unclear whether the University interviewed the tenured faculty members in Calvo’s department who had previously recommended him for reappointment.
Furthermore, contrary to the reporting of some media outlets, Calvo had not been in isolation in the days preceding his suicide but had actually been in contact with at least one colleague at Princeton and met with a lawyer.
The ‘Prince’ contacted more than 40 friends, family members and colleagues of Calvo to develop this article, in addition to reviewing University documents related to the case. Many of the interviews were conducted in Spanish, and two sources were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information they disclosed.
University officials either declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment or confirmation of multiple elements of this article. President Shirley Tilghman said in an email last Tuesday that due to travel plans she did not have time to respond. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin and Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano did not respond to requests for comment. Visits to Dobkin’s and Turano’s offices were answered by their staff, who said the officials’ schedules did not allow time to speak with the ‘Prince’ about this story.
Tenured members of the Spanish department, including Nouzeilles, either did not respond or declined to comment.
Following review, suspension nears
Calvo joined the University in 2000 as a lecturer in the then-Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. In 2008, he was promoted to senior lecturer, a non-tenure track position, and given a three-year contract that would expire at the end of the 2010-11 academic year. During his time at Princeton, he was also appointed director of the Spanish Language Program, assuming supervision of over 30 graduate students and lecturers who teach undergraduate Spanish courses. In addition, he had organized the inaugural trip of the Princeton-in-Spain program in Toledo in the summer of 2008.
At the time of his suspension, Calvo was reaching the end of his first three-year term as a senior lecturer and awaited reappointment. The routine two-stage process consisted of both a departmental and an administrative review, as described by the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty.
While his department recommended renewal of his contract in the fall, problems arose once the proposal progressed to the Committee of Three, the second stage of the process, in the spring.
Calvo was well aware of this initial endorsement, several friends confirmed.
“That reassured Antonio,” said a close friend in an email written in Spanish. The friend was granted anonymity because the friend had received threatening emails and phone calls in the past for prior comments on the controversy.
However, complications in the review process arose late in 2010, according to Flor Gragera de Leon, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who had left the University prior to Calvo’s reevaluation.
“I started to hear rumors in November 2010 that there was a group of graduate students and a lecturer organizing a campaign against Antonio,” she said in an email written in Spanish.
Calvo’s friends said his anxiety continued to grow during March 2011 as he waited to hear from the Committee.
“Antonio told me that even though the department had recommended him to have his contract renewed in the fall, the process had been delayed by the administration because some of his subordinates had presented complaints,” the friend explained.
“I spoke with Antonio a month before his suicide in mid-March. Antonio was worried, he told me he had not slept in months and that he felt the pains of having to go to work every day,” Gragera de Leon added.
The Daily Princetonian had access to an email that Calvo sent to a friend on March 24 detailing his growing worries at Princeton. In the email, Calvo expressed frustration that his reappointment process had been upset by personal attacks and complaints despite the fact that he had already earned his department’s nod of approval. Calvo also doubted whether he would continue in the academic world if his contract were not renewed.
Even though Calvo’s frustration grew in the days following the email, the friend said, his commitment to his job did not wane. The friend saw him for the last time a week before Calvo’s suspension and said that by then Calvo was not eating or sleeping well.
“I saw him spend four hours working on the schedules [of the Spanish language program] for fall 2011,” the friend said.
Although Calvo confided worries about his job security to his friends throughout the last few months of his life, his family and undergraduate students had little idea he was going through such a difficult moment, they said.
Santiago Calvo, Antonio’s brother, said he remembered hearing that his brother’s worries about his contract renewal did not seem to be too serious.
“He told us only as a passing note — that there were some issues and that by apologizing they would be solved,” Santiago said during an interview when reached in Spain.
But not everyone close to Calvo knew the lecturer was under such stress. Ricardo Lopez ’12, a Spanish concentrator who met Calvo his freshman year and later took Calvo’s course SPA 307: Advanced Spanish Language and Style, said he had not noticed anything different in Calvo’s health or behavior.
“We ran a Spanish open house ... and he was fine,” Lopez said, referring to an event that took place only days before Calvo’s suspension and suicide. “We agreed to have dinner a couple of weeks from then.” The open house was the last time he saw Calvo.
A torturous weekend
On Thursday, April 7, Calvo received an email from Nouzeilles, the chair of the Spanish department, according to a former colleague who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
The email asked Calvo to come to Nouzeilles’ office the following day at noon before his regular SPA 307 class at 12:30 p.m. At that meeting, Nouzeilles informed Calvo of his suspension and handed him a letter signed by her. The letter, which cited “multiple sources,” accused him of “engaging in extremely troubling and inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” according to a report published in The New York Times at the time. The letter did not provide more details on the allegations.
A plain-clothed security guard was waiting outside Nouzeilles’ office to collect Calvo’s University ID card, keys and student coursework. The security guard then escorted Calvo to the steps of East Pyne, the former colleague said. Calvo also lost access to his University email account.
Later that day, no instructor substituted for Calvo to teach his Friday class. “He wasn’t there Friday, and there was no email or anything explaining why he was gone,” Rachele Gyorffy ’13 told the ‘Prince’ last April.
There is still no explanation as to why a substitute teacher was not assigned even though Calvo’s scheduled meeting with Nouzeilles suggests that she knew he would not be able to teach his class that day.
Nouzeilles did not respond to a request for comment.
The ‘Prince’ had access to previously unpublished sections of Calvo’s suspension letter that shed light on how further communication between Calvo and the University would proceed.
The letter said Calvo should expect a phone call at his home in Chelsea, N.Y., from Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano on Monday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. Turano would inform Calvo of the specific accusations made against him and provide him with an opportunity to respond. Only if he had not received a call by 9:15 a.m. was he to contact Turano himself.
No sources interviewed by the ‘Prince’ could confirm if the phone call ever took place.
The letter added that Calvo could present an appeal to the Committee on Conference and Faculty Appeal. However, because Calvo had to set up an interview with Turano, he would effectively have had to present his appeal to Turano first and then request a formal appeals process with the Committee.
Since the University would no longer sponsor Calvo’s work visa, he would have to return to Spain within the month if he were not reappointed. As Calvo noted in the email sent on March 24 to a friend, Calvo had not looked for a new job at the January 2011 Modern Languages Association Convention where most language lecturers are hired.
Marco Aponte-Moreno, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who now teaches at University College London, said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, after receiving the suspension letter, Calvo planned to contest the decision.
“The weekend was unbearable for him, he couldn’t sleep. At first he wanted to fight the case. He knew he had not done anything wrong. He was going to show up at Princeton with a lawyer,” he said.
However, Calvo’s resolve to defend himself apparently broke over the weekend. On Saturday, April 9, Calvo made an entry in his notebook. “The emotional torture of the months-long wait has become unbearable in my job,” it read, according to a translation provided to The New York Times.
Contrary to initial reporting, Calvo did not spend the weekend before the phone call in isolation. A former colleague said Calvo met with a lawyer on Saturday to discuss his legal options. Calvo was also in touch with the faculty members that would take over his courses.
Calvo spoke that weekend by phone with Alberto Bruzos Moro, a Spanish lecturer and now acting director of the Spanish language program. Bruzos Moro replaced Calvo as instructor of SPA 307 after Calvo’s suspension.
“I spoke with him for an hour. We talked about classes but also about personal matters,” he said in an interview in Spanish. “The conversation did not give me any clue nor any impression of what was later going to happen,” he added.
On Monday, April 11, Calvo’s students in SPA 307 were met by Bruzos Moro, acting as a substitute teacher.
“Our sub on Monday just said that [Calvo] was taking time off for personal reasons and that he didn’t know how long Antonio would be gone,” Gyorffy, the student in his class, said at the time.
“The line we got was that he was fine, that there were some personal problems. We all just assumed that something had happened in his family,” said Flora Thomson-DeVeaux ’13, who was not in Calvo’s class but expected to meet Calvo at a Spanish language table that evening.
Meanwhile, Calvo mailed a package that Monday containing a copy of his suspension letter attached to a personal note to a close friend in New York, Christopher Neely, a fact confirmed by multiple sources including Calvo’s brother. After receiving the letter on Tuesday and failing to reach Calvo by phone, Neely visited Calvo’s apartment.
Neely did not respond to a request for comment. Santiago Calvo, who talked to Neely, recounted how the events unfolded.
“In that letter, [Antonio] didn’t say what he was going to do, but he wrote many hard-hitting things, and the friend suspected that something was going on,” Santiago said. “He went to [Antonio’s] house, and, when he saw he wasn’t opening the door, he asked the doorman, who told him that without the presence of the police he could not open the door. This was on Tuesday morning,” he added.
When the police entered the apartment, they discovered Calvo’s body.
“Passed away” or suicide?
According to his brother, Antonio Calvo had left his computer on and had typed the name and phone number of a family member, who resides in the United States, on the screen for the police to contact when they found his body.
Santiago Calvo said the family member informed relatives in Spain at 4 a.m. Spanish time Wednesday morning.
Although the family learned of his death that day, the University did not release a statement announcing the news until 10 p.m. on Friday, April 15, saying that Calvo had “passed away” and was “on leave at the time.”
Only on the following Tuesday did the press reveal that the cause of death had been a suicide.
The family said some relatives knew since the beginning that Calvo’s death was a suicide and that he was not simply on leave at the time of his death.
“Only my sister and my other brother knew [it had been a suicide],” Santiago Calvo said. “My father didn’t know because we didn’t tell him.”
Part of Calvo’s letter to Neely said that Calvo did not want his father to know he had committed suicide.
The family arranged a funeral for Calvo on Tuesday, April 19, in his hometown in Spain where his father and other family members still reside.
Those who attended the funeral were not told about the real cause of death, Santiago Calvo said.
“I wanted it to be a quiet funeral. If someone asked [about the cause of death] we responded that we didn’t know yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, April 18, the University revised its online statement to reflect new information about the date of Calvo’s death. However, the note was never updated with the information about the suicide or the fact that Calvo had been suspended on April 8 rather than choosing to go on leave.
On Tuesday, Philip Rothaus ’11, a Spanish concentrator and a self-described friend of Calvo, circulated an open letter to Nassau Hall in which he said that Calvo had committed suicide following his suspension and condemned the University for what he claimed were misrepresentations of the facts.
“To the administration: You are denying us the information we have a right to know about our professor and our beloved friend. You are denying us closure,” he wrote last year.
“He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
A full year later, the University has not released information about the exact allegations against Calvo. After approaching multiple faculty members for an explanation of the suspension, Rothaus said he came to an understanding that the department was not allowed to speak on the matter.
“More than one professor told me that I was not supposed to know about any of this,” he said in an interview last week.
Friends and family of Calvo said the senior lecturer clashed with some graduate students and a lecturer.
Several sources repeatedly mentioned the names of three graduate students in particular. These three students had also taught SPA 102: Beginner’s Spanish II under Calvo’s direct coordination in spring 2008, according to data retrieved from Blackboard. However, no one in the University confirmed their names or involvement in the case. None of the implicated students responded to requests for comment by the ‘Prince.’
Calvo’s position required extensive interaction with graduate students and lecturers to supervise their teaching. According to Aponte-Moreno’s statement, some graduate students did not fulfill their teaching responsibilities properly — including arriving late or canceling classes altogether — causing clashes between them and Calvo.
“There were some graduate students and lecturers under his supervision who didn’t like him,” Aponte-Moreno said.
There were at least two incidents in which Calvo used particularly harsh language with graduate students to express his disappointment in their work. The first involved an email sent to a male graduate students, in which Calvo told him to “stop touching [his] balls and get to work,” in Spanish. According to Calvo’s friends, this Spanish colloquial expression was taken too literally by the administration.
“He had told us that an email he sent had resulted in a stir, but that it was nothing more than an anecdote since he had offered apologies,” Santiago Calvo said. “He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
In another incident, Calvo allegedly threatened a female graduate student by stating she deserved to be slapped in the face for her lack of effort. He then apparently clapped his hands in front of her face to illustrate the point.
Calvo indicated in a March 24 email to a friend that he was aware he was facing allegations from his subordinates. Calvo added that a friend at another university had had similar problems with graduate students, but Calvo did not elaborate on the nature of these issues.
On top of these clashes, Calvo also ran into problems with at least one lecturer in the department.
Santiago Calvo said he remembered that his brother had expressed frustration about having to hire Spanish lecturer Paloma Moscardo-Valles in 2006. “The reason was that he was forced to work with her when she was unqualified. It was all because her husband had been hired to work at Princeton,” Santiago said. The University has in the past come under scrutiny for allegedly attracting a professor by offering a position to his or her spouse.
Moscardo-Valles did not respond a request for comment.
Far from routine, a series of oral interviews
The ‘Prince’ review of the circumstances surrounding the case show there are a number of inconsistencies and gaps in the University’s explanation of the events.
While friends of Calvo openly confirm that the administration had been conducting oral interviews of graduate students and lecturers, members of the Spanish department are reluctant to speak about the additional review. Tenured faculty members did not respond to a request for comment on these interviews, and one lecturer neither confirmed nor denied that they took place.
“If I had been interviewed, I would not be able to say anything because that process would have been confidential,” said Bruzos Moro, the lecturer who taught Calvo’s class after his departure and took over his position as director of the Spanish Language Program.
However, Jorge Mendez Seijas, another Spanish lecturer, said he had heard about these interviews.
“Everybody knew that interviews were being carried out,” Mendez Seijas said, noting that this happened during his second semester at Princeton so he could not say whether this process was normal.
These interviews may have been instigated by the complaints presented by some of Calvo’s subordinates, effectively launching a new investigation. Even if members of the Spanish department had been aware of these allegations, they still chose to recommend Calvo in the fall.
It is unclear whether tenured faculty members were consulted in the spring 2011 investigation. However, all of the sources that spoke with the ‘Prince’ shared the view that the administration did not circle back with the same faculty members that had previously recommended Calvo for reappointment.
The University’s decision to conduct oral interviews was a departure from a routine review process but within the authority of the Committee of Three. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty posts all forms required for faculty reappointment and promotion on its website.
When recommending Calvo’s reappointment to the Committee, Nouzeilles would have had to follow the instructions listed in the “Department Chair Checklist for C/3 new appointments and promotions” form that was current during that spring. According to this form, the Committee would consider supporting materials such as course evaluations and letters from students and lecturers. Nowhere on the form are oral interviews mentioned.
Following Calvo’s suicide, the administration posted a new department chair checklist specific to the reappointment of senior lecturers and also updated rules regarding the reappointment of senior lecturers. These updates, however, still do not mention interviews.
These interviews represented an investigation into Calvo’s work and conduct that was separate from the routine reappointment process and may offer an explanation as to why he was suspended midway through the semester rather than letting his contract expire.
In an April statement to the ‘Prince,’ Tilghman explained that the Committee of Three has the power to initiate an investigation.
Tilghman wrote that “if any allegations of improper conduct arise in the course of the review, they must be thoroughly investigated and the findings reported to the [Committee of Three].”
According to the University’s Rules and Procedures, grounds for suspension are limited to “(a) substantial and manifest incompetence, (b) substantial and manifest neglect of duty or (c) conduct which is shown to violate the University rules ... or substantially to impair the individual’s performance.”
But the procedures for suspension have not been updated since 1951 and only refer to assistant, associate and full professors. Calvo’s position as a senior lecturer is not referred to in the rules.
Furthermore, the rules say that the power to suspend a faculty member does not lie in the Committee of Three or in the academic departments; it lies in the president and the Board of Trustees. It is not clear, then, why Calvo’s suspension letter was signed and handed to him by Nouzeilles, the department chair.
In addition, a suspended faculty member “shall receive a statement in writing of the reasons for the action and shall be entitled to ... a hearing before the [Committee of Three].”
Calvo was not told the reasoning behind the suspension in the letter. Instead, he was to be informed of the allegations against him in an interview with Turano, an associate dean of the faculty, according to his suspension letter.
In that same interview, he would be asked to respond to allegations that would be presented to him for the first time. Only after that interview would he have the opportunity to appeal his case.
The letter also makes clear that the University suspended Calvo before it had closed its investigation into him.
In addition, Calvo’s department is not among the academic departments and programs listed in the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty. The document instead includes the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, which ceased to exist in 2001. This section of the rules has not been updated since 1994.
These inconsistencies indicate that the University’s Rules and Procedures is still out-of-date in many respects.
Tilghman declined to comment when presented with these observations last week. Durkee and Dobkin also did not respond.
However, the University has not always been as tight-lipped about faculty suspensions in the past.
In 1971, when civil and geological engineering professor Roger DeWiest was suspended for neglecting and not attending his own classes, the letter sent to him was made public. It was signed by then-University president Robert Goheen.
More recently, in 2004, when English professor Lee Mitchell was suspended for misuse of funds, Durkee told the ‘Prince’ that, given the circumstances, people deserved to know the reasons for his suspension.
One year later, a silent University
The University has only spoken about Calvo’s suspension three times.
In a statement on April 25, after mounting public pressure, Tilghman told the University community that standard procedures had been followed in Calvo’s case but refused to disclose any details to “protect the privacy of the individual faculty [member] and his or her family.”
But Calvo’s family openly admits their disappointment with the way the University has handled the case, although they are reluctant to point fingers at specific individuals.
“What it all comes down to is that I think [Antonio’s] father deserves respect, and no one [from the University] ever reached out to him,” Santiago Calvo said. “The only thing we would have contented ourselves with is if the University had contacted my father and, at least, cheered him up.”
Antonio Calvo’s friends have also expressed similar sentiments toward the University, criticizing the evaluation process itself, the lack of known reasons to validate Calvo’s suspension and the handling of the actual suspension.
“Why was he treated like that? Why did no one talk to him before he was banned from campus and from his office? Who was interested in having Antonio fired?” one of Calvo’s friends said.
The second University statement came in the form of a rebuttal sent to El Pais, a prominent Spanish newspaper, after then-Professor Ricardo Piglia had written that “in Calvo’s 10 years at Princeton, there was not a single fact that justified the decision [to suspend him].”
Cass Cliatt ’96, the University spokesperson at the time, replied to the newspaper that Piglia had “no firsthand knowledge of the information available to the Committee.” Piglia had been at the University in fall 2011, teaching and participating in the departmental review process, before embarking on a sabbatical in the spring semester.
Piglia declined to comment for this article.
But by far the most controversial University response was made by Durkee in an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education late last June, explaining that Calvo’s suicide had validated the University’s concern about his potential violent tendencies.
Calvo’s family, however, has constantly challenged this claim.
“He wasn’t aggressive, and here lies the proof: His students liked him,” Santiago Calvo said. “That is a lie.”
Questions unanswered
Not only have his friends and family been affected by the suicide and the speculation in the press that followed, but it has also taken a toll on the Spanish department.
“The group of people that works here had a very bad time,” Bruzos Moro, the lecturer, said. “With time I think we have been able to get over it, although it is clearly something that cannot be forgotten,” he added.
However, Santiago Calvo said that no one from the Spanish department has contacted the family. Calvo’s friend also questioned the department’s silence.
“Antonio always spoke wonders about his colleagues, but now no one has spoken up,” the friend said.
Questions abound for Calvo’s friends and former students, who also lament the way he was treated by the University.
“Why didn’t the University give him a chance to defend himself before asking him to leave the premises?” Aponte-Moreno said.
“Frankly, I would like to know why they suspended him,” Lopez said.
But Santiago notes that Calvo’s death has left them powerless to answer these questions.
“The University may say whatever it wants,” Santiago Calvo said. “He is no longer here to defend himself.”
國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法
【聯合報╱記者蕭白雪／台北報導】
2012.04.16 02:07 pm
我國「犯罪被害人保護法」為符合兩國際人權公約，去年修法將所有在台遇害的外籍人士納入保護範圍；但諷刺的是，中華民國國民在國外遇害，反而無法獲得我國政府任何保護，由於日本也不保護受害的外國人，在日遇害的女學生家屬因此成為國際被害人球。
我國在一九九八年完成犯罪被害人保護法，政府常自豪是亞洲第一個為保護被害人訂定保護法的國家；去年更為追求符合兩公約規定，不管其他國家是否同樣保護我國民，將所有外籍人士在台因犯罪受害的情況均納入保護系統。
犯罪被害人保護法是為了保護因犯罪行為被害而死亡者之遺屬、受重傷者及性侵害犯罪行為被害人，但又定義所謂的「犯罪行為」是指在中華民國領域內，也就是說，中華民國國民在海外遇害，我國依法無法提供任何保護措施。
兩名台籍女學生赴日被殺事件，因震驚社會，台中、南投的犯罪被害保護協會後來是以專案方式，對兩家人進行慰問及心理輔導等協助；雖然犯保法中規定被害人死亡，家屬最高可領一百三十萬元補償金及殯葬費用，犯保協會也不敢輕易作主、逾越法律規定。
另一方面，犯保協會即使願意協助被害家屬對凶手求償，但是張志揚在日本被捕後自殺身亡，犯保協會受限於個人資料保護法規定，連調查張志揚在國內財產資料的權限都沒有。
女學生如果在國內遇害死亡，依規定政府可聘請律師協助後續官司處理；但發生在海外的案件，家屬只能自費聘請日本律師。在國內要如何為女兒討回公道，家人到現在還摸不著頭緒。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法 | 留日女學生命案 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/7030244.shtml#comments#ixzz1sClSrIOp
Power By udn.com
2012.04.16 02:07 pm
我國「犯罪被害人保護法」為符合兩國際人權公約，去年修法將所有在台遇害的外籍人士納入保護範圍；但諷刺的是，中華民國國民在國外遇害，反而無法獲得我國政府任何保護，由於日本也不保護受害的外國人，在日遇害的女學生家屬因此成為國際被害人球。
我國在一九九八年完成犯罪被害人保護法，政府常自豪是亞洲第一個為保護被害人訂定保護法的國家；去年更為追求符合兩公約規定，不管其他國家是否同樣保護我國民，將所有外籍人士在台因犯罪受害的情況均納入保護系統。
犯罪被害人保護法是為了保護因犯罪行為被害而死亡者之遺屬、受重傷者及性侵害犯罪行為被害人，但又定義所謂的「犯罪行為」是指在中華民國領域內，也就是說，中華民國國民在海外遇害，我國依法無法提供任何保護措施。
兩名台籍女學生赴日被殺事件，因震驚社會，台中、南投的犯罪被害保護協會後來是以專案方式，對兩家人進行慰問及心理輔導等協助；雖然犯保法中規定被害人死亡，家屬最高可領一百三十萬元補償金及殯葬費用，犯保協會也不敢輕易作主、逾越法律規定。
另一方面，犯保協會即使願意協助被害家屬對凶手求償，但是張志揚在日本被捕後自殺身亡，犯保協會受限於個人資料保護法規定，連調查張志揚在國內財產資料的權限都沒有。
女學生如果在國內遇害死亡，依規定政府可聘請律師協助後續官司處理；但發生在海外的案件，家屬只能自費聘請日本律師。在國內要如何為女兒討回公道，家人到現在還摸不著頭緒。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法 | 留日女學生命案 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/7030244.shtml#comments#ixzz1sClSrIOp
Power By udn.com
Saturday, April 14, 2012
35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓
【聯合報╱東京特派員陳世昌】
2012.04.15 03:14 am
位居世界第三大經濟體、號稱「飽食大國」的日本，竟然還會傳出餓死事件。而最令人驚嘆的是，在餓死的人口之中，竟還包含了卅五歲世代的年輕人。
二○○九年四月，一樁餓死事件衝擊了整個日本社會。福岡縣北九州市的門司區，一名卅九歲的男性被發現死於自己房間內的榻榻米坐墊上，是日本最常見的「孤獨死」。
警方的調查說，死者在當地高中就讀時，還是學校橄欖球的校隊，體重至少有七十公斤以上，但是死的時候卻看不到昔日運動選手的身影，消瘦得不成人形。身邊的錢，只剩下九圓日幣，房間內沒有任何食物，警方判斷是餓死。
這名男性在專門學校畢業後，一度在金融機關就職，因為過酷的勞動讓他的身體無法負荷，最後選擇離開公司。之後，就只能靠著打工來維持生計。
糟糕的是，他開始與地下金融打起交道。因為不安定的經濟狀態，為了維持每個月固定的開銷，他向地下金融借了一五○萬日圓的債務，每個月必須要還十四萬日圓，以債養債的結果，讓他陷身於多重債務的狀態。
由於地下金融討債的電話打到他打工的地方，為了不給公司帶來麻煩，他只好連打工也都辭掉，之後就沒聽說有過工作。
在大阪他還有唯一的兄長，但是沒去找他幫忙。去世的十天前，他去拜訪了一位朋友的媽媽，向她訴苦說「因為感冒，所以好幾天沒有吃飯」。這位媽媽趕緊為他煮了飯，臨走時還讓他帶著便當走。這可能就是他最後的晚餐了。他被發現時，房間內只簡單留了幾個字「誰來救我」。
日本ＮＨＫ將這個悲慘的故事做了報導。當年的日本完全失業者高達卅六萬人，有效的求職倍率是過去最低的，五人中只有兩人能找到工作，這其中卅五歲世代的失業者，比前一年同月增加百分之卅一，達八十萬人，餓死的男性就是其中一位。
與這位餓死者同一年代、多次把身心重創卅五歲世代的心境寫入作品的芥川賞作家平野啟一郎說，他自己也是北九州出身，看到這種慘狀真是讓人痛心。
在日本，每年因為飢餓而死的人數，大約在五十人到一百人之間，其中孤立於日本社會的一角落，卻噤聲不敢出言求救的卅五歲世代男性現在愈來愈多。「日本的社會病了」，人生的旅程中，正是前途大好充滿期待的年紀，為什麼會出現這樣悲慘的結局，值得這個社會深思。
【2012/04/15 聯合報】
全文網址: 35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓 | 日搶救失落世代 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR1/7028792.shtml#ixzz1s4p01UQD
Power By udn.com
2012.04.15 03:14 am
位居世界第三大經濟體、號稱「飽食大國」的日本，竟然還會傳出餓死事件。而最令人驚嘆的是，在餓死的人口之中，竟還包含了卅五歲世代的年輕人。
二○○九年四月，一樁餓死事件衝擊了整個日本社會。福岡縣北九州市的門司區，一名卅九歲的男性被發現死於自己房間內的榻榻米坐墊上，是日本最常見的「孤獨死」。
警方的調查說，死者在當地高中就讀時，還是學校橄欖球的校隊，體重至少有七十公斤以上，但是死的時候卻看不到昔日運動選手的身影，消瘦得不成人形。身邊的錢，只剩下九圓日幣，房間內沒有任何食物，警方判斷是餓死。
這名男性在專門學校畢業後，一度在金融機關就職，因為過酷的勞動讓他的身體無法負荷，最後選擇離開公司。之後，就只能靠著打工來維持生計。
糟糕的是，他開始與地下金融打起交道。因為不安定的經濟狀態，為了維持每個月固定的開銷，他向地下金融借了一五○萬日圓的債務，每個月必須要還十四萬日圓，以債養債的結果，讓他陷身於多重債務的狀態。
由於地下金融討債的電話打到他打工的地方，為了不給公司帶來麻煩，他只好連打工也都辭掉，之後就沒聽說有過工作。
在大阪他還有唯一的兄長，但是沒去找他幫忙。去世的十天前，他去拜訪了一位朋友的媽媽，向她訴苦說「因為感冒，所以好幾天沒有吃飯」。這位媽媽趕緊為他煮了飯，臨走時還讓他帶著便當走。這可能就是他最後的晚餐了。他被發現時，房間內只簡單留了幾個字「誰來救我」。
日本ＮＨＫ將這個悲慘的故事做了報導。當年的日本完全失業者高達卅六萬人，有效的求職倍率是過去最低的，五人中只有兩人能找到工作，這其中卅五歲世代的失業者，比前一年同月增加百分之卅一，達八十萬人，餓死的男性就是其中一位。
與這位餓死者同一年代、多次把身心重創卅五歲世代的心境寫入作品的芥川賞作家平野啟一郎說，他自己也是北九州出身，看到這種慘狀真是讓人痛心。
在日本，每年因為飢餓而死的人數，大約在五十人到一百人之間，其中孤立於日本社會的一角落，卻噤聲不敢出言求救的卅五歲世代男性現在愈來愈多。「日本的社會病了」，人生的旅程中，正是前途大好充滿期待的年紀，為什麼會出現這樣悲慘的結局，值得這個社會深思。
【2012/04/15 聯合報】
全文網址: 35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓 | 日搶救失落世代 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR1/7028792.shtml#ixzz1s4p01UQD
Power By udn.com
Thursday, April 5, 2012
法名校校長 紐約成裸屍
聯合報╱編譯田思怡／綜合報導】
2012.04.05 04:36 pm
巴黎政治學院校長戴國安（右）3日被人發現陳屍在紐約飯店房間內。圖為他於2009年與法國總統沙克吉合影。
（路透）
法國頂尖學府巴黎政治學院院長戴國安（Richard Descoings）3日被人發現裸身陳屍在下榻的紐約飯店房間內。法國總統沙克吉表達哀悼，稱他為教育界的先驅，使巴黎政治學院享譽國際。
這是繼國際貨幣基金（IMF）前總裁史特勞斯卡恩在紐約旅館發生性侵事件後，法國重要人士又在紐約飯店發生震驚世人的事件。
53歲的戴國安赴紐約參加由聯合國秘書長潘基文召集的大學校長會議，但他沒有現身會場。
紐約警局發言人布朗表示，他下榻在曼哈坦城中的米開朗基羅飯店，「飯店人員上午9時查房時，聽到他的房間傳出鼾聲，認定他還在睡覺，但下午1時發現他已死亡。」
布朗說，戴國安的房間在七樓，但他的手機和筆電被扔在三樓的屋頂上，顯然是從窗戶扔出來。他房內有空酒瓶和抗憂鬱藥的空瓶子。
警方表示，房間沒有被強行進入的痕跡，但消息人士說，之前有兩個男人進入房內。
警方說，調查人員進入戴國安的房內時，房間很凌亂，認為他死因很可疑，但後來查明是急救人員為了替戴國安急救，才把房間弄亂。現場沒有打鬥痕跡，要等法醫查明死因。
戴國安擔任校長近16年，首開讓弱勢區域的窮學生進入這所菁英大學的先例。他在法國其他省分創立六所分校，學生人數從4,500人增加到1萬人。
全文網址: 法名校校長 紐約成裸屍 | 國際焦點 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR3/7007708.shtml#ixzz1rAUbgrGT
Power By udn.com
2012.04.05 04:36 pm
巴黎政治學院校長戴國安（右）3日被人發現陳屍在紐約飯店房間內。圖為他於2009年與法國總統沙克吉合影。
（路透）
法國頂尖學府巴黎政治學院院長戴國安（Richard Descoings）3日被人發現裸身陳屍在下榻的紐約飯店房間內。法國總統沙克吉表達哀悼，稱他為教育界的先驅，使巴黎政治學院享譽國際。
這是繼國際貨幣基金（IMF）前總裁史特勞斯卡恩在紐約旅館發生性侵事件後，法國重要人士又在紐約飯店發生震驚世人的事件。
53歲的戴國安赴紐約參加由聯合國秘書長潘基文召集的大學校長會議，但他沒有現身會場。
紐約警局發言人布朗表示，他下榻在曼哈坦城中的米開朗基羅飯店，「飯店人員上午9時查房時，聽到他的房間傳出鼾聲，認定他還在睡覺，但下午1時發現他已死亡。」
布朗說，戴國安的房間在七樓，但他的手機和筆電被扔在三樓的屋頂上，顯然是從窗戶扔出來。他房內有空酒瓶和抗憂鬱藥的空瓶子。
警方表示，房間沒有被強行進入的痕跡，但消息人士說，之前有兩個男人進入房內。
警方說，調查人員進入戴國安的房內時，房間很凌亂，認為他死因很可疑，但後來查明是急救人員為了替戴國安急救，才把房間弄亂。現場沒有打鬥痕跡，要等法醫查明死因。
戴國安擔任校長近16年，首開讓弱勢區域的窮學生進入這所菁英大學的先例。他在法國其他省分創立六所分校，學生人數從4,500人增加到1萬人。
全文網址: 法名校校長 紐約成裸屍 | 國際焦點 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR3/7007708.shtml#ixzz1rAUbgrGT
Power By udn.com
Monday, April 2, 2012
案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產
【聯合晚報╱記者謝龍田／高雄報導】
2012.04.02 02:54 pm
近7年來陸續有多艘台灣漁船遭索馬利亞海盜劫持，贖款愈來愈高，從每艘 (人船)400 多萬元飆到近億元；有的船東因海盜劫傾家蕩產，有的「重傷」，令漁業界不勝唏噓。
台灣漁船早年主要在麻六甲海峽遭遇海盜。94年8月，高雄籍「中義18號」及屏東琉球籍「新連發36號」和「承慶豐號」在索國外海遇劫，這是台灣漁船首度傳出被索國海盜劫持。
當年折騰了近半年，船東透過「地下管道」談判，每艘船付出400多萬元至700餘萬元不等贖回。
不到2年，高雄籍慶豐華168號」又遇劫，這次花了5個月斡旋，付了約600萬元；遺憾的是，漁工飽受海盜凌虐，有名大陸漁工死亡。
接著，高雄籍「穩發161號」98年4月遭索國海盜挾持，並淪為海盜母船，曾向美軍船機開火。費時約11個月，船東以直升機空投數千萬元贖款，人船才獲釋。
99年3月，高雄籍漁船「日春財68號」遇劫，海盜獅子大開口，要價2億餘元，導致談判一再受挫，漁船也淪為海盜母船，在一次和美軍駁火中，台籍船長身亡。
99年5月，高雄籍延繩釣漁船「泰源227號」遇劫，8個月後獲釋；有人說沒花錢，有人不相信。日前又傳出高雄市洪姓船東的漁船遇劫，船東正能枯等海盜開價。
高雄區漁會漁民代表翁進壽說，20多年前他的漁船到索國海域作業，當年索國民眾的小船也會靠近「要東西」。當地缺水，只要幾箱礦泉水就能打發。沒想到近幾年變成海盜打劫，且胃口愈來愈大，令人感慨萬千。
漁業界人士分析，索國海盜食髓知味，有錢後武器、裝備愈來愈好，加上國際掮客介入操作，海盜有「企業化」趨勢；漁民槍口下討生活，風險更高。
【2012/04/02 聯合晚報】@ http://udn.com/
全文網址: 案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產… | 綜合 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/7002092.shtml#ixzz1qtUtijBX
Power By udn.com
2012.04.02 02:54 pm
近7年來陸續有多艘台灣漁船遭索馬利亞海盜劫持，贖款愈來愈高，從每艘 (人船)400 多萬元飆到近億元；有的船東因海盜劫傾家蕩產，有的「重傷」，令漁業界不勝唏噓。
台灣漁船早年主要在麻六甲海峽遭遇海盜。94年8月，高雄籍「中義18號」及屏東琉球籍「新連發36號」和「承慶豐號」在索國外海遇劫，這是台灣漁船首度傳出被索國海盜劫持。
當年折騰了近半年，船東透過「地下管道」談判，每艘船付出400多萬元至700餘萬元不等贖回。
不到2年，高雄籍慶豐華168號」又遇劫，這次花了5個月斡旋，付了約600萬元；遺憾的是，漁工飽受海盜凌虐，有名大陸漁工死亡。
接著，高雄籍「穩發161號」98年4月遭索國海盜挾持，並淪為海盜母船，曾向美軍船機開火。費時約11個月，船東以直升機空投數千萬元贖款，人船才獲釋。
99年3月，高雄籍漁船「日春財68號」遇劫，海盜獅子大開口，要價2億餘元，導致談判一再受挫，漁船也淪為海盜母船，在一次和美軍駁火中，台籍船長身亡。
99年5月，高雄籍延繩釣漁船「泰源227號」遇劫，8個月後獲釋；有人說沒花錢，有人不相信。日前又傳出高雄市洪姓船東的漁船遇劫，船東正能枯等海盜開價。
高雄區漁會漁民代表翁進壽說，20多年前他的漁船到索國海域作業，當年索國民眾的小船也會靠近「要東西」。當地缺水，只要幾箱礦泉水就能打發。沒想到近幾年變成海盜打劫，且胃口愈來愈大，令人感慨萬千。
漁業界人士分析，索國海盜食髓知味，有錢後武器、裝備愈來愈好，加上國際掮客介入操作，海盜有「企業化」趨勢；漁民槍口下討生活，風險更高。
【2012/04/02 聯合晚報】@ http://udn.com/
全文網址: 案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產… | 綜合 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/7002092.shtml#ixzz1qtUtijBX
Power By udn.com
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