The law requires colleges and universities to get approval before hiring or working with Chinese people who aren’t US citizens or green card holders
A legal challenge filed by two graduate students and a professor argues, among other things, that the state law usurps the power of the federal government
Last year, with an eye to curb Chinese influence in the state, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill requiring state colleges and universities to get government approval before they hire or work with Chinese people who aren’t US citizens or green card holders.
Since then, schools in the state have scrambled to comply. In December, Miami-based Florida International University paused the hiring of Chinese and citizens of six other “countries of concern” also targeted by the law – Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela – while waiting for the state university system’s board of governors to create a vetting process. ⠀
“Requiring the board of governors’ approval means it is next to impossible to obtain approval,” said Sumi Helal, a professor of computer and information science and engineering at the University of Florida.
Helal said he was “intent on leaving” the school. ⠀
Last year, DeSantis said his anti-Chinese influence efforts provided a “blueprint for other states to do the same”.
And according to political observers in the state, the governor may double down on his education policies. David McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, said that “being an education ‘culture warrior’” was a “perceived strength of his when conservative activists helped push critical race theory and anti-trans rhetoric and policies onto the political agenda”. ⠀
“Our academic community thrives on international collaboration. SB 846 is a malicious and xenophobic bill that directly attacks our community,” said Eva Garcia Ferres, co-president of Graduate Assistants United at the University of Florida.
Have we learned nothing from the past? Discrimination bcz of someone’s nationality never ends well for anybody.
So they’re using xenophobia to attack education, because xenophobia by itself isn’t malignant enough.
I work at a university.I won’t go into details, but ASIO (Australian national sec) recently gave us a special visit, advising the need to increase caution around new Chinese staff.and.students (to put basically and lightly. Seems spying from within education institutions is popular at the moment, but makes sense considering the infrastructure, population of each institute, and the tens of thousands of student visas each year.
However, the meeting was with just a few need-to-know staff (CPO, COO, heads of students, and cybersec) and was basically, “This is happening more and more, so we just need extra vigilance if you can.” It was certainly no broadcast to the nation in full details with drastic measures attached.
Spying from within public educational institutions feels rather counterintuitive. Chinese students weren’t getting security clearance anyway, so the only goal of their research is to be published in publicly viewable journals or conferences. This is a witch hunt.
Ah, so that is the tiny nugget of reality they took and twisted for political gain.
Ridiculous to putting this into law, and speaks volumes to the real motives.
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Ah look, the new McCarthyism, in Florida at least.
Also, nice to see that Cuba needs another punch to the gut.
Think your neighbour might be a communist? Call 555-COMMIE now!
Good to see the party of small government at it again, not that they ever stopped.
Pretty sure that this is unconstitutional. States do not have the right to set foreign policy, which this clearly is.
Do you want brain drain? Because this is how you get brain drain.
i bet florida will probably say ‘no’ back to students and professors, unless they do actual pressure.
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I dislike the US a lot but China is obviously worse in every regard.
How so? I can’t see how China can top the US openly and unabashedly facilitating a genocide while attempting to gaslight the world about it. That’s before getting into what it did to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and other countries just in my lifetime.
Hack, I have never seen a Chinese politician brazenly look a reporter and tell him killing half a million children is worth it.
Don’t they just take the genocide into their own hands though?
And I don’t mean that as a defense of the US.
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Have you heard of the Uighurs or Tibet?
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Hard to say China doesn’t do genocide when you consider the Uighurs and Tibet. I mean maybe you can have an academic debate over ethnic cleansing and genocide vs forced assimilation and population replacement but their hands and very far from clean on that spectrum.
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US is bad, but China is even worse. I hope they both become weaker and split into smaller countries. Russia too.
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Hell no. China is the worst world governor you could have. Please live in China for two years before saying that out.
Harvard conducted a study of Chinese sentiment for literally 15 years and found 95.5% approval among Chinese citizens of their national government and communist party.
Ask the Chinese why they spent millions for a foreign passport now. Not everyone dares to say the truth when watched by the big brothers. My Chinese friends in the UK won’t even comment about politics on their Instagram public posts.
Maybe your Chinese friends are in the ultra-minority. Spare me your anecdotes. Read the Harvard study. 15 years of world-class research doesn’t fold to your friends in the UK
One single research and one bible. Yes.
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Go now then.
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Go to China now.