Remove the Confucius Institute from The University of Adelaide
Remove the Confucius Institute from The University of Adelaide
The issue
The Confucius Institute at The University of Adelaide which "contributes" $230,000 per year to the University, has been labelled by the Human Rights Watch as "fundamentally incompatible with a robust commitment to academic freedom”, and quite clearly, should not remain on our campus. Such presence of the Chinese Communist Party's tentacles a clear impact on academic freedom, the prevention of foreign interference, and the access to unbiased and transparent education, especially for Chinese students.
The Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group who interviewed students, academics and administrators from Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States have stated:
“(Students) from China have described threats to their families in China in response to what those students had said in the classroom,” it found.
“Scholars from China detailed being directly threatened outside the country by Chinese officials to refrain from criticising the Chinese government in classroom lectures or other talks.
“Others described students from China remaining silent in their classrooms, fearful that their speech was being monitored and reported to Chinese authorities by other students from China.”
Despite the University of Adelaide appearing to make the institute appear "different" and "less invasive" than their interstate counterparts (The New South Wales Department of Education recently expelled the Confucius Institute program from its public schools), the Chinese Communist Party is a relentless organisation determined to ensure the compliance of foreign students and further the Chinese Communist regime. Such interference demonstrated by what we have seen at our student elections:
"International students taking part in student union elections in Adelaide say they have been threatened with being reported to the Chinese embassy over slogans alleged to be anti-communist." https://www.sbs.com.au/news/chinese-students-threatened-during-adelaide-university-elections
For the benefit and transparency of our University, Staff, and Students, the Confucius Institute must be removed. As the university is unlikely to act on this alone, we must petition and show our support for transparency by signing this petition.
Sources:
https://www.aaup.org/article/academic-freedom-and-china#.Xt3b6GgzYuU
The issue
The Confucius Institute at The University of Adelaide which "contributes" $230,000 per year to the University, has been labelled by the Human Rights Watch as "fundamentally incompatible with a robust commitment to academic freedom”, and quite clearly, should not remain on our campus. Such presence of the Chinese Communist Party's tentacles a clear impact on academic freedom, the prevention of foreign interference, and the access to unbiased and transparent education, especially for Chinese students.
The Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group who interviewed students, academics and administrators from Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States have stated:
“(Students) from China have described threats to their families in China in response to what those students had said in the classroom,” it found.
“Scholars from China detailed being directly threatened outside the country by Chinese officials to refrain from criticising the Chinese government in classroom lectures or other talks.
“Others described students from China remaining silent in their classrooms, fearful that their speech was being monitored and reported to Chinese authorities by other students from China.”
Despite the University of Adelaide appearing to make the institute appear "different" and "less invasive" than their interstate counterparts (The New South Wales Department of Education recently expelled the Confucius Institute program from its public schools), the Chinese Communist Party is a relentless organisation determined to ensure the compliance of foreign students and further the Chinese Communist regime. Such interference demonstrated by what we have seen at our student elections:
"International students taking part in student union elections in Adelaide say they have been threatened with being reported to the Chinese embassy over slogans alleged to be anti-communist." https://www.sbs.com.au/news/chinese-students-threatened-during-adelaide-university-elections
For the benefit and transparency of our University, Staff, and Students, the Confucius Institute must be removed. As the university is unlikely to act on this alone, we must petition and show our support for transparency by signing this petition.
Sources:
https://www.aaup.org/article/academic-freedom-and-china#.Xt3b6GgzYuU
Petition Closed
Share this petition
The Decision Makers
Petition created on 7 June 2020