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Money is the root of the problem. Canadian universities depend heavily on tuition paid by foreign students. A huge proportion of those students are from China
by beloch 5y ago
Money is the root of the problem. Canadian universities depend heavily on tuition paid by foreign students. A huge proportion of those students are from China.
If Canadian universities take too tough a stance against this kind of behaviour they could find themselves, either individually or collectively, on the Chinese government's naughty list. Perhaps the degrees they confer might lose their recognition in China, or perhaps students will be discouraged from attending "naughty" universities.
If you look at Daniels' response, note that it deliberately skirts around the fact that this kind of targeted harassment is directly encouraged by the Chinese government. Even just mentioning China by name in his statement is flirting with trouble.
It's chilling to observe that academic freedom of North American universities can be so negatively impacted by a foreign power.
- quacked 5y agoDaniels is a classic GOP leader, as are many of the people beneath him. Use vaguely patriotic rhetoric to take over an American institution, sell out all possible assets to foreign powers for personal profit, retire to country estate. It's been the Republican playbook since the end of WWII. The pattern of leadership is the same everywhere; the "academic freedom being negatively impacted by a foreign power" you mention is a rot that pervades nearly all American instutions, be they academic or commercial. Have you ever read the biography of Phil Knight, founder of Nike? His incredible business insight was to take shoes made cheaply elsewhere and undercut American labor with it. We're led by Phil Knights in every sector.