The in-depth Washington Monthly article is here:
Colleges mostly see this as a win-win situation, solving budget woes and adding to the value of the school’s education at the same time. But with the impact of the boom still reverberating, pockets of dissent are emerging. In states like Washington and California, there are growing complaints that the influx of foreign students is crowding local students out of their own state schools. Meanwhile, at least some Chinese students are complaining that American universities exploit them by charging extra fees. It’s difficult to argue against the valuable opportunities for cultural exchange and public diplomacy that international education provides. But at the current scale, Chinese students have become so concentrated on some campuses that in many ways it’s as if they were attending separate schools within schools.
International students bring a lot of money into the United States, contributing roughly $22 billion to the U.S. economy in 2012, according to one estimate. Francisco Sánchez, the undersecretary for international trade at the Commerce Department, has said the U.S. has “no better export” than higher education, and Larry Summers, former secretary of the treasury and former Harvard president, lists “exporting higher education”—bringing more international students to American institutions—as a key part of his recommendations for economic growth.
I wonder where UO’s exports of undergraduate degrees would put us, on a ranking of Oregon’s most successful foreign trade industries?
And former UO professor Arif Dirlik sends this warning about the influence of Chinese money on academic studies of China, with regard to the Tianamen square demonstrations and the Chinese government sposored Confucius Institutes:
Tiananmen commemorations, June 4,1989—June 4, 2013
The Tiananmen Tragedy of June 1989 is significant not just for humanitarian but also for historical and political reasons. It is a humane obligation to recall those who lost their lives and those who continue to suffer under its shadow. Analysis of the forces that brought it about, and the forces that issued from it, requires confrontation of questions of crucial importance to understanding the PRC’s development over the last three decades–as well as of outsiders’ reaction to and entanglement with that development. A broad group of China scholars and other specialists involved in the study of the PRC is urging centers for China Studies (including the so-called Confucius Institutes) to use this occasion to discuss issues of democracy, human rights and social justice with reference to the PRC. These issues are pertinent to the contemporary world in general. They include especially issues of complicity in the perpetuation of human rights abuses of outsiders involved with oppressive regimes in some capacity or other that have been dramatized by the recent American Studies Association decision to boycott universities in Israel. Attached here are the statement, “We Will Not Forget June 4th,” with a list of signatories, and a draft copy of the letter being circulated to Confucius Institutes by Dr. Stephen Levine on their behalf. Further information may be found on the website, http://www.june4commemoration.org
Arif Dirlik, Independent scholar, Eugene, OR (Knight Professor of Social Science, UO, 2001-2006)
WE WILL NOT FORGET JUNE 4th!
June 4, 2014 will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the massacre in Beijing of hundreds if not thousands of unarmed Chinese citizens by troops acting on direct orders from the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). (The exact number of fatalities is unknown and in dispute.) The world knows this tragedy as the Tiananmen Massacre. Starting in mid-April 1989, hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators and their supporters in Beijing protested against official corruption, for economic justice, and democratization of China’s authoritarian political system. Similar demonstrations occurred in nearly two hundred cities throughout China. Sensing a threat to their monopoly of power, CCP leaders led by Deng Xiaoping branded the peaceful demonstrations a counter-revolutionary uprising. They chose to employ deadly force rather than engage in constructive dialogue. Despite significant opening in Chinese society since 1989, the authorities have prohibited any public discussion of what in Chinese is referred to simply as liu si (June 4th). It is time to break that silence.
We, the undersigned, bound to China by professional and personal ties, are deeply concerned about its future well-being which, we believe, requires frank and open discussion of its past. Therefore, we call upon our colleagues around the world in schools and universities, civic organizations, foundations, research institutions, non-governmental organizations, and similar entities to sponsor and convene public events between April 15 and June 4, 2014, to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of liu siin the form of teach-ins, lectures, memorial marches, press conferences, and other appropriate forms. Such events may serve to memorialize the victims, educate the public about what actually occurred in China in the spring of 1989, consider the significance of June 4 for the subsequent course of Chinese politics, and stimulate ongoing discussions in China about the imperative of genuine political reform.
Professor David Bachman, University of Washington, US
Professor Jean-Philippe Béja, Centre nationale de la recherche scientifiques, Hong Kong
Professor (Emeritus) Thomas P. Bernstein, Columbia University, US
Mr. Eric B. Brown, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, US
Dr. Katia Buffetrille, Ph.D., Researcher, École Pratiques des Hautes Études, Paris, France
Dr. Kevin Joseph Carrico, Post-doctoral Fellow, Stanford University, US
Associate Research Fellow, Wen-Chin Chang, Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Professor Titus C. Chen, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Professor Peggy S. Christoff, Stonybrook University, US
Professor Rena V. Cochlin, University of Santa Cruz, US
Professor Michael C. Davis, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Professor Martin Dewhirst, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Independent Scholar Arif Dirlik, Global Center for Advanced Studies, US
Professor June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami, US
Professor Josephine Chiu-Duke, University of British Columbia, Canada
Professor (Emeritus) Michael S. Duke, University of British Columbia, Canada
Professor (Emeritus) Joseph W. Esherick, University of California at San Diego, US
Dr. Marie-Dominique Even, M.D., Centre nationale de la recherche scientifiques, Paris, France
Professor (Emeritus) Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin, US
Mr. Roger Garside, author, retired diplomat, UK
Professor Marie Holzman, President, Solidarité Chine, Paris, France
Mr. Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, US
Professor Victoria Hui, University of Notre Dame, US
Professor J. Bruce Jacobs, Monash University, Australia
Harlan W. Jencks, Ph.D., University of California, US
Professor (Emerita) Madeline G. Levine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US
Professor Steven I. Levine, University of Montana, US
Professor Xiaorong Li, Stanford University, US
Professor Perry Link, University of California at Riverside, US
Research Professor Roderick MacFarquhar, Harvard University, US
Mr. James Mann, fellow-in-residence, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, US
Professor Surjit Mansingh, American University, US
Professor Glenn Anthony May, University of Oregon, US
Professor Barret L. McCormick, Marquette University, US
Dr. Alice L. Miller, Stanford University, US
Jonathan Mirsky, Ph.D., journalist and writer, London, UK
Mr. Paul J. Mooney, journalist, US
Ms. Stacy Mosher, translator from Chinese, US
Professor Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University, US
Professor Alexander V. Pantsov, Capital University, US
Professor Steven Phillips, Towson University, U.S.
Professor John Rapp, Beloit College, US
Professor (Emeritus) Peter Reddaway, George Washington University, US
Professor Donald Rodgers, Austin College, US
Professor (Emeritus) Marshall Sahlins, The University of Chicago, US
Mr. Thubten Samdup, Tibet activist, Canada
Mr. Scott Savitt, journalist, author, Durham, North Carolina, US
Mr. John J. Tkacik Jr., U.S. Foreign Service, retired, US
Professor Elliot Sperling, Indiana University, US
Professor Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania, US
Professor Yuan-kang Wang, Western Michigan University, US
Professor Terry Weidner, University of Montana, US
Professor Michael B. Yahuda, George Washington University, US
Professor (Emeritus) Anthony C. Yu, The University of Chicago, US
January 4, 2014
Recipient’s name
Confucius Institute at the University of …
Inner Address
Dear ….:
On the night of June 3-4, 1989, Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops massacred hundreds of peaceful demonstrators on the streets of Beijing. The conscience of the world was shocked by what is often called the Tiananmen Massacre, referred to in Chinese simply as liu si (June 4). Chinese Communist Party officials falsely labeled the popular national movement, in which millions of Chinese citizens in nearly 200 cities peacefully demonstrated., a counter-revolutionary rebellion. They still continue to prohibit public discussion of the subject.
The forthcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of liu si provides an occasion to remember the hope and the tragedy of the Chinese democracy movement of April-June 1989. It is also an opportunity to focus attention on the urgent contemporary problems of political reform, human rights, and economic justice that animated the millions of Chinese citizens who took part in the April-June 1989 movement.
On behalf of an international group of China scholars and others, I am writing to ask that your Confucius Institute mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of liu si with a public event such as a lecture, a teach-in, a roundtable discussion or the like that addresses the relevant historical and contemporary issues. In The Analects (2:24) Confucius himself said, “Not to act when justice commands, that is cowardice.” We appeal to your conscience and sense of justice to act with courage. It is our expectation that such memorial events, taking place between April and June 2014, will come to the attention of Chinese in the PRC via news reports, the internet, and social media and help to stimulate discussion on matters of great importance. An interim list of signers of our Appeal is on the reverse of this letter as well as at our web site: June4commemoration.org A reading list, links, and other relevant information will be posted on that site in the coming weeks.
I would appreciate if you would inform me of any activity your Confucius Institute may undertake with respect to this matter.
Sincerely,
Steven I. Levine, Ph.D.
Department of History
University of Montana, Missoula
Coordinator, Tiananmen Initiative Project
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