Kirk's message re the Apec conference (Fri, 28 Jan 2000 18:27:04
+0900) ended with a comment about the situation at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto.
Readers may be interested in an update on the situation of foreign teachers
at the university.
First though, let me thank members of the list for their warm response
to the petition drive in Shimotori in December in support of the foreign
teachers at the PUK. In little more than a couple of hours, around
700 signatures were gathered, calling on the Prefecture and its university
to stop discriminating against its foreign teachers. A number of subscribers
to this list came out on a wintery Sunday and showed the warmth of the people of Kumamoto towards people in need of support.
The situation is now even more critical than in December. There was at that
point a chance that the university would re-employ one of the two teachers
in the firing line. However, that chance was missed by the university and now both Dr. Worthington and Sandra Mitchell face non-renewal at the end of March.
(For a bit of the background see my previous posting....).
The situation at the PUK is extraordinary, not only because of the discrimination, which is still to be found at a number of universities throughout the country. What is remarkable in this situation is the lengths that the University and the Prefecture have gone to keep the foreign teachers in separate boxes from their Japanese colleagues.
In 1992-93, the University was recruiting for its new Administration Faculty, which was to be centre-piece of the PUK. The old name for the university was Kumamoto Women's University. Up until then, the university had been employing its full-time foreign teachers on irregular, part-time one-year contracts.
However, when they discovered that the Ministry of Education rules insisted that full-time teachers be given full-time appointments, EVEN the foreign ones, the Prefecture chose not to follow other similar universities such as Yamaguchi Prefectural University and Miyazaki Municipal University, and give their full-time foreign teachers full-time appointments. Instead, the most extraordinary course of action was taken.
First, the foreign teachers were given documents to sign, accepting full-time appointments and these documents were then sent to the Ministry. Assurances
were given at the time they were signed that they meant what they said, that is that the appointments would be full-time.
However, the teachers were not given the full-time appointments which they had been promised and which had been reported to the Ministry. Instead, when they arrived for work on April 1 1994, they were asked to sign 'part-time, irregular, one-year contracts'. All four teachers refused, pointing out they had already accepted full-time regular employment. So began the saga which has culminated in the present determination to get rid of two of the leaders of the foreign teachers, Cynthia and Sandra, the President and Vice-President respectively of the union formed by the teachers in 1997.
Sandra and Cynthia are only the latest victims in a long series of foreign university teachers who have been the victims of discriminatory employment policies throughout Japan. Ivan Hall's book "Cartels of the Mind" gives a moving account of the background, and tells of the Korean and Chinese teachers who resisted for years before they were joined by Western colleagues over the last decade.
Times change though. Kumamoto Prefecture too wants to be a part of the world. As Kirk points out, being a part of the world should mean paying more than lip-service to expressions like "international" and "human rights". More than 7,000 people have signed an appeal asking to Prefecture and university to stop its discriminatory policies. How many more will be needed before these institutions begin to listen and to realize that "putting their house in order" should not mean getting rid of those who speak the truth?
Farrell Cleary.
(Lecturer at the PUK. [Nationalities: Irish and New Zealand. Member of the Support Group for the Foreign Teachers and of the foreign teachers' union, the Kumamoto General Union.)
P.S. A notice will be posted soon, giving the dates of planned activities in support of the PUK teachers.
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