Global: Chinese University Deletes Academic Freedom From Its Charter

Fudan University recently deleted “freedom of thought” from its charter and added paragraphs pledging loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. [Global] Hi everyone! Welcome to the last Global Newsletter of 2019. I’m Karin Fischer, and I look forward to seeing you in 2020. Meanwhile, here’s what I’m following this week: Chinese University Deletes Academic Freedom From Its CharterFudan University, in China, recently deleted [“freedom of thought”]( from its charter and added paragraphs pledging loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. The institution amended its bylaws to say that “the university sticks to the party’s leadership, fully implements the party’s policies on education” and promising that it would promote “Xi Jinping Thought,” a political philosophy named for the country’s current president. The revisions are seen as a serious blow to academic freedom because Fudan is considered one of China’s best and most liberal universities. Two other institutions, Nanjing University and Shaanxi Normal University, also changed their constitutions to emphasize Communist leadership. ADVERTISEMENT [advertisement]( U.S. College Officials Ordered Out of RussiaFive University at Buffalo academics were ordered deported from [Russia]( after they violated the terms of their visas by speaking at a local university. The faculty and staff members were temporarily detained after giving a professional talk, in violation of their status as tourists. They were allowed to leave the country after paying a small fine. Buffalo officials blamed the situation on a “misunderstanding” with the Russian university, saying that the Americans had seen the talk as an “open discussion” but that it had been promoted locally as a formal lecture. Campus Protest in India Turns ViolentProtests erupted on an Indian university campus over a controversial [citizenship law]( that critics say discriminates against the country’s Muslim minority. Two hundred people, many of them students, were injured after police tried to use batons and sticks to break up a demonstration at Jamia Millia Islamia University, in Delhi. The new law fast-tracks citizenship for religious minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who came to India before 2015. But the measure excludes Muslims because President Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, says they are not minorities in their home countries. Professor Fired In Chinese #MeToo MomentA Chinese university professor has been fired for allegedly locking one of his students in his car and sexually assaulting her. Qian Fengsheng, an associate professor of accounting at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, [was fired]( after a post by the alleged victim went viral; in it, she wrote that the professor assaulted her after offering her a ride home while answering her questions about a class. But the backlash against a Chinese student studying in Minnesota who accused a powerful entrepreneur of rape reveals the limits of the country’s #MeToo movement. How Colleges Measure Their Global FootprintIt’s a classic “if a tree falls in the forest …” moment — if a college can’t accurately measure its global activities, is it truly making progress in internationalization? In this week’s edition of my global newsletter, [latitude(s)]( I talked with a couple of experts about the challenges of creating a universitywide system for tracking internationalization (colleges are big places, with a lot going on) and the benefits (it enables colleges to best leverage their strengths globally). Chronicle Top Reads [Your Favorite Topics From a Year Covering Innovation]( By Goldie Blumenstyk Alternative credentials. The value of degrees. Enrollment challenges. Those were just a few of the topics most popular with readers of The Edge this year. ADVERTISEMENT [advertisement]( [In Defense of Plagiarism, Sort Of]( By Agnes Callard Is stealing ideas immoral? (PREMIUM) [A Cash-Strapped University Bet on Student Success — and Grew]( By Kelly Field A major investment in undergraduate support, close attention to data, and a shift in the way it allocates resources gave the University of Rhode Island a lot to celebrate. (PREMIUM) [The Disgusting New Campus Novel]( By Kristina Quynn Burping and vomiting on the way to academe’s collapse. (PREMIUM) Paid for and Created by Indiana University [Fighting Online Misinformation to Protect Democracy]( Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media seeks to understand how information spreads online and identify accounts that purvey misinformation. Subscribe Today The Chronicle’s award-winning journalism challenges conventional wisdom, holds academic leaders accountable, and empowers you to do your job better — and it’s your support that makes our work possible. 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