By Jerome A. Cohen
This piece by John Fitzgerald, Chinese Scholars Are Calling For Freedom And Autonomy – How Should Western Universities Respond?, is an important and timely appeal to Western universities to take the concrete, useful steps that he suggests.
It is especially urgent for those foreign universities that have major projects in China to commission honest, independent assessments of the current inroads made by Xi Jinping’s ever tightening measures and the implications of these repressive measures for the lives of the Chinese and foreign students, professors and scholars involved.
There have apparently been many disturbing developments that have been too often concealed, minimized or glossed over by relevant foreign academic administrators in the hope of carrying on their missions in parlous times. The foreign universities invested in China—New York University included—should now collaborate in openly sharing their experiences and challenges, join in collectively protesting to PRC authorities as appropriate, and expose the realities of contemporary education in China for world consideration.
This is the only way they can push back against the political corruption of their academic goals and give effective voice to the plight of their silenced Chinese colleagues.