Notre Dame cuts ties with China-backed scholarship program – ndsmcobserver.com

At the urging of Republican members of the House of Representatives, Notre Dame has cut ties with a China-backed scholarship program.
At the beginning of July, the House urged Notre Dame and other universities such as Dartmouth College to cut ties with the China Scholarship Council before July 22. This request came after President Donald Trump’s release of Proclamation 10043, which emphasized conducting research for the betterment of American interests and national security and suspended the entry of certain Chinese graduate students and researchers into the country. 
The House alleged at the time that the Scholarship Council was a scheme to help the Chinese government in stealing technology. Other allegations against the program have included it being funded by the Chinese Communist Party as well as reports that students in the program were signing “loyalty pledges” to the Chinese Communist Party. 
In July, the University told WNDU that they’d begun to sever ties with the program earlier in the year. The University included in their statement to WNDU that they would respond to the house’s inquiry and work with the committee on the “important matter.” 
Notre Dame was first contacted with instructions to cut ties with the program by chairman John Moolenaar of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
“We write to express our concern regarding the University of Notre Dame’s (UND) ongoing joint scholarship program with the CSC, which sponsors up to 40 visiting Ph.D. students from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) annually to conduct research at UND for periods ranging from 6 to 24 months,” Moolenaar wrote in the letter. 
When asked why the University ultimately cut ties with the program, University spokesperson Erin Blasko wrote, “After careful review, we made the decision to end our relationship with the scholarship program earlier this year. Our international students and scholars are important and vital members of the campus community, and we will continue working to ensure they are welcomed and supported at Notre Dame.”
Yongping Zhu, associate professor of and director of undergraduate studies for the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, reflected on the impact the program had in the department.
“Usually we ask teachers from this sponsor program and invite them to come here and usually we want them to be involved in our Chinese program. We ask them to participate in our Chinese program activities for about six to 10 hours per week,” he said. “They come here to help us grade students’ homework and sometimes to have individual sections with our students so students can practice Chinese with real Chinese people”.
He also claimed that the University had begun to cut off any relations to Beijing. The University continues to admit students from China and offers several study abroad programs in the country as well. 
Asked how he believes the termination of the program will impact Notre Dame’s relations with China in the future, Zhu said, “If we cut ties we might not have this kind of influence in the future. Also the other bad thing is that they don’t learn our American culture, because we are the humanities.”
He went on to explain the Chinese movement of 1919 during which Chinese students located in China wanted to learn Western culture. He explained that this was important because “we can influence them with democracy, and they can come here to learn about democracy,” claiming that without this relationship a cultural barrier exists. 
A 2020 analysis by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology found that roughly 7% of Chinese citizens studying abroad, an estimated 65,000 students, were sponsored by the China Scholarship Council.
Notre Dame began their relationship with the program in 2011.

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