Blood in exchange for graduation: Taiwan's 'vampire' football coach faces national ire

A blood donation scandal has erupted in Taiwan, where a university women’s football coach has been accused by students of forcing them to donate blood in exchange for academic credits. The story has taken social media by storm, and people are slamming the coach for her strange action. A woman surnamed Jian, from the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), exposed her, saying that sometimes she sat for 14 days straight for the blood donation. At one point, they could not even find the vein to insert the needle. Jian said that coach, Zhou Tai-ying coerced students to take part in an abnormal number of blood donation sessions. Zhou is a prominent figure in Taiwan's football programme.

Blood donation scandal at Taiwan university

Students at the university were required to get academic credits to graduate, and 32 of them were tied to these blood sessions. Those students who did not give in to her demand risked not graduating and even faced the threat of being expelled from the university. Detailing her ordeal, Jian said she underwent more than 200 blood donations in exchange for course credits. Sometimes they sampled her for 14 days, even three times a day. The blood was collected by untrained people who came onto the campus in the name of “on-campus research experiments”. The coach even kept the research subsidies in certain cases with him, and called them funds for the team.

Other students also talked about their experience

Jian said the excruciating ordeal left her crying. “It was truly blood and sweat for credit," she said. "By the eighth consecutive day of blood draws, they could barely find a vein in either arm." Jian shared a video showing her in tears as the personnel looked for a vein, even in her wrist. "I completely broke down. It took six tries before they finally succeeded!” Jian's revelation led other students to speak up. An unidentified student said the coach bullied them, and she took a long leave of absence to avoid facing her. She added that she did not tell her parents about it as it would have upset them. “If my dad knew, he’d definitely go fight the coach. I just did not want them to be upset,” the student said. She added that her father passed away before she could ever tell him about it. "My college years were supposed to be happy and full of promise, but looking back now, all I feel is disgust."

After the incident came to light, the university announced on July 13 that Zhou had been dismissed and barred from leading any sports teams. Zhou was also asked to write a letter of apology. “I sincerely apologise for the harm caused to the students involved, to the faculty, and the university’s reputation. I deeply regret the emotional distress caused to the students and want to say sorry to all of you.” However, the announcement and the letter were later removed from the university's social media page. The local education authorities have issued an administrative penalty to NTNU and ordered it to take corrective action. It is not clear how Zhou benefitted from the blood donations.