Former NUS Student’s 12-year Legal Battle With University
A battle old enough to take the PSLE.
Here at The Bullet, we are obligated to bring you news, even if it’s news on happenings from 2006. So here's one from way back, that recently surfaced.
Last week, Jeanne-Marie Ten Leu Jiun, a former MA student in the National University of Singapore (NUS), publicised her alleged 12 year battle with the university, on social media. In a (now removed) blog post shared on facebook, Ten provided an account of how NUS wrongfully denied her of her MA degree for more than 12 years. While she has since taken down the post in response to a demand by the university, her blog still remains accessible online and the post was widely enough shared to be available on other news sites. Read the full post on All Singapore Stuff here and read her blog here.
In the post, Ten started her story in an impassioned yet somehow composed manner:
“My name is Jeanne Ten. I am a Singaporean. My life has been utterly destroyed by NUS. In 2012, I began a long drawn legal battle with NUS regarding the wrongful denial of my MA degree (by Research) in 2006. My trial will begin next month on 1 August 2017.
To date, I have already spent more than $100,000 in fees. I have exhausted all my savings. I have no choice but to resort to crowdfunding the legal fees. I hope Singaporeans can extend a hand, no matter how small the amount, to uphold justice.”
She then went on to explain about how the university denied her of her MA degree when she refused to accede to the university’s demands to accept the decisions regarding her complaint against her MA supervisor. In the complaint, she claims that her supervisor, one Dr Wong Yunn Chii, made use of her scholarly work to apply for funding for his own project without crediting her and that he provided her with only minimal and token supervision throughout her thesis. The latter claim was backed in a finding by a commission of inquiry (COI) organised by NUS.
“When I refused to bow to the University’s threat, NUS terminated my MA candidature and denied me my MA degree – a degree that had already cost me more than three years of my life. “
According to Ten, several months before the termination, in 2006, NUS had already passed her MA thesis and even sent her the letter for the commencement ceremony.
Source
"a new beginning" indeed.
Ten wrote, "This lawsuit is not just about Dr Wong's failures as a supervisor or his professional enrichment through using my MA thesis. Most importantly, it is about the wrongful termination of my MA candidature by NUS. The termination of my candidature has affected my life. NUS failed to observe due process in investigating my complaint against Dr Wong, and penalised me for my refusal to accept the NUS’ dubious investigation."
According to her, NUS has not only tried to strike out her case a number of times, the university had also tried to make her a bankrupt by issuing her a "statutory demand" under The Bankruptcy Act to pay the cost orders in the interim applications that she had lost.
“I do not want to drop this matter because I believe that justice should be served. And I think Singaporeans will not allow such an injustice to happen. I hope that my 12-year battle with NUS will make it to Court. I’m asking Singaporeans to stand behind a fellow Singaporean, and crowdfund justice. It is truly unfortunate that I have to raise $11,000 just for the Court hearing fees and at such short notice. NUS has used its own power to bully me and is able to use the legal system to its advantage as a result of the unequal access to resources."
Regarding the removal of the original post that gained traction on social media, she wrote, "NUS has demanded that I remove the blog posts of 18 and 19 July 2017. If I do not, NUS will enforce its legal rights against me. I have taken down the two posts. Nonetheless, I will not give up the fight. Please continue to support me."
In good old-fashioned FASS style, Ten managed to end off the original blogpost with some tongue-in-cheek humour, saying, “Please help me – can 5,000 Singaporeans please give me S$1 each?” Seems like that worked; on the 21st of July, she announced to readers that she had surpassed the targeted amount of S$5,000 meant for payment so that her legal case can go to Court for trial. The first hearing is set to take place at the High Court on the 1st of August.
Here’s hoping your thesis doesn’t end up like this shitstorm.
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