In March 2014, in an unprecedented act which angered the academic community, Vietnam’s Hanoi University of Education suddenly announced the revocation of the Master’s degree in Language and Literature which it awarded to young writer Do Thi Thoan (pen name Nhã Thuyên) four years earlier, with maximum mark. The decision was made in secret and there was no proof or even accusation that any academic mistake or misconduct had been committed by the candidate.

This extraordinary event was almost certainly caused by political pressure from the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) itself. Prior to the revocation, a campaign was initiated in the state-controlled media to criticise the lack of political correctness of Nha Thuyen’s thesis and continues to this day. The revocation followed closed meetings by a panel of non-experts in the field of research involved. No reason was given for the revocation of the degree, in spite of requests for explanations from Nha Thuyen herself. A leaked document from “Ban Tuyen Giao”, the Propaganda and Political Education organ of the VCP, shows that they were issuing secret directives to the media to avoid reporting any adverse reaction to this affair. The octopus-like Ban Tuyen Giao, incidentally, is the organisation charged with ensuring that all thoughts and speech in the country follow the Party line, by guiding or manipulating the media and the entire education system.

Why is the Party so concerned about a Literature Master’s thesis? The research topic itself may provide an explanation. Titled “The Marginalized’s position: Open-Mouth Group’s poetic experiments from a cultural perspective”, the thesis explores the work of Mo Mieng (Open Mouth), a group of samizdat writers who often hold critical views of contemporary Vietnamese society and whose poetic experimentation is considered dirty or rude by the “Công an Văn hóa” (Cultural Police), an official and powerful branch of the Vietnamese security police. Their work has frequently been published overseas, but it is considered taboo inside Vietnam. Bùi Chát, one of the founding members, was awarded the 2011 Freedom to Publish Prize by the International Publishers Association.[1] The Mo Mieng writers themselves have suffered frequent police harassment, including sometimes brutal beatings. Thus, even the act of researching their work and writing about it could have been construed by the Party as an act of defiance. Asides from the author herself, her research supervisor, Associate Professor Nguyen Thi Binh, had her employment contract terminated by the University.

In an unprecedented act of protest and solidarity, 70 members of the Vietnamese university and research community wrote an open letter on 19th April 2014 to the Hanoi National University of Education demanding that the revocation of Nha Thuyen’s Master’s degree be reversed. The following day, another open letter with 40 signatories, mostly overseas Vietnamese academics and scientists, supports the protest and calls for more academic freedom in Vietnamese universities. The latter also demands that the Vietnamese government conducts an investigation into the revocation and institutes measures to prevent the recurrence of political interference into academic affairs.

We attach the English versions of the above mentioned letters. We welcome any support from the international academic and research community. Should you wish to add your signature in support of academic freedom, please send your details to [email protected].

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[1] http://www.internationalpublishers.org/images/stories/IPAftpPrize/2011/final%2025%2004%2011.pdf

Attachments:

1. Open letter from overseas Vietnamese academics.

2. Open letter from inland Vietnamese academics & researchers.

Attachment 1

OPEN LETTER FROM OVERSEAS VIETNAMESE ACADEMICS

Violation of academic freedom in the revocation of Ms Do Thi Thoan’s Master’s degree

To

- Hanoi National University of Education

- The Ministry of Education and Training, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

We, the undersigned, who are concerned about the Vietnamese education system, wish to register our strongest possible protest over the revoking of Ms Đỗ Thị Thoan’s Master’s degree in Language and Literature. We totally support the efforts by members of the Vietnamese education and research community to get this revocation reversed.

Đỗ Thị Thoan’s dissertation “The Marginalized’s position: Open-Mouth Group’s poetic experiments from a cultural perspective” (Vị trí của kẻ bên lề: thực hành thơ của nhóm Mở Miệng từ góc nhìn văn hóa) was awarded the maximum mark by an assessment committee of Hanoi National University of Education in 2010. However, inexplicably, in 2014 her Master’s degree was secretly reviewed by another committee, then revoked through Decisions 667/QĐ-ĐHSPHN (11 March 2014) and 708/QĐ-ĐHSPHN (14 March 2014). The author and her thesis supervisor were not allowed to present their case. The reasons for the decisions were not disclosed; in particular no evidence was presented to show that any serious academic mistake or misdemeanour has been committed. There were signs of outside interventions of a political, non-academic nature, aimed at pressuring the university into revoking Ms Thoan’s Master’s degree. Requests for explanations by Ms Thoan were virtually ignored by the University.

These actions directly violate regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training (Article 22, Decision 33/2007/QĐ-BGDĐT) according to which an academic degree can only be revoked if fraud has been committed, if the candidate is not qualified to receive the degree, if the degree has been awarded by a person unqualified to do so, or if the certificate has been illegally altered or used by another person. The manner in which the re-assessment of the thesis was carried out contravenes fundamental principles of justice, as its author and her supervisor were not given any opportunity to present their case, and no reason, argument, evidence or other supporting document concerning the decision has been disclosed.

The revocation of Ms Đỗ Thị Thoan’s degree represents a grave violation of academic freedom. As Einstein has said, “any restriction on academic freedom acts in such a way as to hamper the dissemination of knowledge among the people and thereby impedes national judgment and action”. Universities can contribute effectively to national development only if lecturers and students are free to research any topic they choose. The assessment of their work must be based solely on academic criteria and carried out by qualified experts. Degrees can be revoked only in cases of serious academic misconduct, such as plagiarism, data fabrication or ghost authorship.

In view of the above, we call on Hanoi National University of Education to annul the revocation of Ms Đỗ Thị Thoan’s Master’s degree and to disclose all documentation related to this matter. In addition, with the aim of building a healthy and modern education system for Viet Nam, we urge the Vietnamese government to investigate the circumstances leading to the re-assessment and revocation, and to institute measures for preventing future similar occurrences of covert, illegal interference with due process.

LIST OF SIGNATORIES

(To add your signature to this open letter, please send your details to [email protected] including your phone number, which maybe used by us to check your identity and will not be published).

Attachment 2

OPEN LETTER FROM INLAND VIETNAMESE ACADEMICS & RESEARCHERS

To: Associate Professor Nguyễn Văn Minh,

President, Hanoi National University of Education

Dear Sir,

We the undersigned, members of the Vietnamese education and scientific research communities, wish to inform you that:

1. We protest against the University’s Decisions 667/QĐ-ĐHSPHN of 11 March 2014 and 708/QĐ-ĐHSPHN of 14 March 2014 concerning the rejection of Ms Đỗ Thị Thoan’s Master’s dissertation and revocation of her Master’s degree in Language and Literature, and request that you annul these decisions, which are both illegal and illogical:

2. We request that you make public the entire process leading to the above two decisions by Hanoi National University of Education, in the spirit of compliance with legally binding regulations.

3. From legal as well as academic practice considerations, the review of the dissertation The Marginalized’s position: Open-Mouth Group’s poetic experiments from a cultural perspective infringes upon the legal authority and prerogative of the dissertation assessment committee, supervisor and author, as they were never informed about in the review process and never allowed to participate.

We request that the scientific authority and repute of the Dissertation Assessment Committee, of the supervisor and of the author be properly taken into account in any action or decision relating to a dissertation. They must be able to participate in all activities and decisions relating to the dissertation, as stipulated by regulations.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

LIST OF SIGNATORIES