Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

Is Academic Freedom Threatened by China's Influence on U.s. Universities? Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

Publisher Marketing: This hearing is the first in a series of hearings probing the question whether China's soft power educational initiatives are undermining academic freedom at U. S. schools and universities. We see it manifested primarily in two ways. The first is in the building of satellite campuses in China or American universities where Chinese rules of engagement are said to hold sway, in other words, places where no criticism of the Chinese Government or promotions of democracy and freedom are allowed. Second, we see it in the myriad outposts of Chinese soft power that have opened on campuses throughout the United States and the world, the so-called Confucius Institutes whose curricula integrates Chinese Government policy on contentious issues such as Tibet and Taiwan and whose hiring practices explicitly exclude Falun Gong practitioners. It should be noted that we are seeing emerging faculty opposition to these institutes as well as to the all too cozy and lucrative arrangements which American universities have with institutions affiliated with the Chinese Government. This prompts us to ask the question: Is American education for sale? And, if so, are U. S. colleges and universities undermining the principle of academic freedom and, in the process, their own credibility in exchange for China's education dollars?