US Cornell University suspends partnership with Chinese institution

美國康奈爾大學暫停與中國機構合作

The university is concerned about students punished for supporting worker's rights online


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. Ivy League institution Cornell University has temporarily cut several programs and exchanges with China’s Renmin University due to academic freedom concerns, reports Financial Times.

According to the report, a number of students say they were punished by the school for supporting worker’s rights online and endorsing unionization attempts at Shenzhen manufacturing plant Jasic Technology over the summer.

One student says they were forced to withdraw from their course for a year while another wrote that they were publicly criticized by their teacher for posting pro-unionization messages on online social media platform WeChat.

There has been a spike in labor rights-related protests over the past two years in China as the country’s economy has slowed. Employees at Jasic Technology attempted to legally establish a worker’s union this May but were met with expulsions, beatings and detention in some instances.

Reports suggests that workers were unhappy with the government for underfunding their housing and rental plan, and the organization for imposing arbitrary fines. Students rushed to their aid, establishing support groups and online petitions. In August, riot police in full gear stormed a dormitory where students and support group members were staying and made 50 arrests.

In 2008, China introduced new labor laws that permit collective bargaining. Formal unions are still illegal however, unless associated with the Communist Party’s official union organization, and new laws are more helpful to crooked white-collar workers who can afford to use them.

As is the case with any grass roots attempt to secure rights in China, the government denounced the student protests as foreign-influenced attempts to create disharmony.

Renmin University’s School of Labor and Human Resources is one of the foremost labor science teaching and research institutes in the region, and Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations is frequently ranked as one of the best in the U.S. The two departments began their partnership in 2014.

Earlier this year, China’s Ministry of Education terminated over 200 partnerships with foreign universities in what seemed to be an attempt at curbing foreign influence over exchange students.

Cornell University has become the first Western institution to cut ties with a Chinese university due to academic freedom concerns.