Did NUS Have A Copy Of My Thesis That I Submitted to NUS In 2006 In Its Possession All This Time?
29 July 2017
My case against NUS will be heard on 1-4, 18 and 21 August 2017. It will be at the Supreme Court and it is open to the public.
There is one issue that I am not allowed to ventilate in Court next week because of Without Prejudice privilege that NUS enjoys, i.e., terms of settlement proposed in the course of a mediation cannot be used in Court generally. Hence, I am discussing it here in this forum.
This begs the question about what can be discussed in the public domain that is qualified by privilege in Court? Well, there is a judgment on this issue: Ten Leu Jiun Jeanne-Marie v National University of Singapore [2014] SGHC 217. While the honourable Court decided that I could not use the so-called privileged communications to support my legal position in Court, the judgment which provided the grounds for why the statements could not be used in Court and the said statements were published in the world wide web and can be accessed through this link:
http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/15767-ten-leu-jiun-jeanne-marie-v-nationaluniversity-of-singapore-2014-sghc-217
I turned in my MA thesis to NUS in 2006. Absolutely.
I wish to deal with one issue that continues to unsettle me a lot and causes me great vexation. It is a question about whether if I turned in my MA thesis to NUS in 2006. The answer is “YES.” And NUS disclosed this finalised copy of my thesis during litigation in 2013.
On 31 August 2006, I emailed a softcopy of my finalised thesis in pdf format to NUS. At that time I was already overseas in my PhD studies. NUS acknowledged the receipt of my thesis in softcopy format almost immediately. I have the emails to back up this claim that I make here.
In 2011, through my MP Mr Seah Kian Peng, I made a complaint to MOE regarding NUS’ wrongful termination of my MA candidature and wrongful denial of my MA degree. As this issue could not be resolved to my satisfaction, I commenced litigation against NUS in 2012.
For the avoidance of doubt, I did not ask MOE to mediate with NUS in 2011. I complained to MOE about NUS.
The Court has decided that while I did not ask MOE to mediate my complaint against NUS, MOE acted in a “mediatory capacity” when it conveyed NUS’ position to me (See [36] to [41] in the above-mentioned judgment).
In my 2011 communications with MOE, MOE appeared to think that I did not turn in my MA thesis to NUS back in 2006.
I tried to explain to MOE that I had indeed turned in a copy of my finalised thesis in 2006, but MOE apparently chose to believe NUS. I am not at liberty to say more. I refer to what was published in the above-mentioned judgment at [47] which is a quote from MOE with my emphasis in highlights:
Source: Ten Leu Jiun Jeanne-Marie v National University of Singapore [2014] SGHC 217 at [47]
http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/15767-ten-leu-jiun-jeanne-marie-v-nationaluniversity-of-singapore-2014-sghc-217
IN CONVEYING ITS POSITION TO MOE, NUS ALSO TOLD MOE THAT NUS DID NOT HAVE A COPY OF MY MA THESIS IN ITS FILES. THIS IS NOT TRUE. IT IS UNFORTUNATE FOR ME THAT NUS WILL NOW GET AWAY IN COURT WITHOUT HAVING TO ANSWER TO ME WHY IT TOLD MOE IN 2011 THAT IT DID NOT HAVE A COPY OF MY THESIS IN ITS RECORDS WHEN IT OBVIOUSLY HAD A COPY OF MY MA THESIS ALL THIS TIME SINCE 2006!!!
Have a great weekend and please support my litigation fund if you have some change to spare (details below).
Sincerely,
Jeanne Ten
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