A view of Cornell University. (Fotolia)
A joint degree program funded by the Chinese Communist government has recently caused an uproar at Cornell University, with several professors strongly opposing it and students now boycotting it and urging the university not to implement the partnership with Peking University.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Cornell is busy dealing with a faculty revolt over its close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and the student boycott is a further blow to university administrators.
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At a March 25 meeting, Cornell student leaders weighed in on the faculty-management battle over a multimillion-dollar partnership with Peking University, demanding that Cornell suspend the partnership and “reevaluate all current international collaborations” for ethical standards.
“It’s clear that there are people in the student government who are unhappy with the partnership with Peking University.” Youhan Yuan, a member of the student government, told the Washington Free Beacon, “There’s a chance that Peking University will do something despicable that you don’t like. That would be bad for your moral standards.”
They passed a student resolution with 18 votes in favor, 0 against and 4 abstentions. Although the resolution is non-binding, university rules require President Martha Pollack to respond within 30 days. This forces the president to make the first public statement on the partnership. Cornell has so far refused to acknowledge that the Chinese Communist Party has committed any human rights violations.
According to the Free Beacon, the passage of this student resolution demonstrates that not only university professors, but students as well, are increasingly viewing the partnership with Peking University as an inappropriate collaboration with a regime that imprisons vocal students and commits genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang. The growing campus-wide discontent threatens to upend not only Cornell’s partnership with Peking University, but also the university’s entire multimillion-dollar partnership with the Chinese Communist Party.
“Continue to work with Peking University and other institutions in China to normalize and accept the ongoing genocide (by the Chinese Communist Party).” Laila Abd Elmagid, another student government member, said during the March 25 discussion.
A mid-March article in the Free Beacon reported that at a faculty meeting in early February, Professor Alex Susskind, associate dean of Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, touted a joint degree program with Peking University funded by the Communist Party’s Ministry of Education that he said would generate up to $1 million in annual profits for the university.
Susskind’s presentation drew negative reactions from his colleagues, who expressed deep concern about Cornell’s ability to maintain academic independence in the face of the Communist government’s growing control over all aspects of civil society.
Since the controversy over the project began in February, Cornell administrators have worried that opposition to the partnership with Peking University could evolve into a larger movement questioning whether Cornell should grow in China, the newspaper said. At a Feb. 24 faculty meeting, University Provost Michael Kotlikoff acknowledged that the professors’ opposition to Peking’s program is motivated by human rights concerns that could also affect many programs, including those already in place in China.
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The Free Beacon says the student resolution shows that administrators’ fears have become a reality. The resolution addresses Cornell’s relationship not only with the Chinese Communist Party, but also with all “countries where academic freedom is in question,” such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Even if Cornell gives in to the demands of its students and faculty, the university must decide on a new relationship with China in light of the CCP’s human rights abuses. Should Cornell withdraw from China altogether, or only from some of its programs?
But whichever the university’s new relationship with the Chinese Communist Party will be, Cornell Republican Chairman Weston Barker said Cornell must acknowledge that the Chinese Communist government is committing Crimes Against Humanity.
“At the very least, Cornell should take the position of both the Trump (Trump) and Biden administrations and acknowledge the genocide (of the Chinese Communist Party against) the Uighurs.” Barker said, “The actions taken by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang have been increasingly well documented and cannot be ignored.”
The university did not respond to The Free Beacon’s request for comment.
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