Binghamton University recently defended its partnership with the controversial Confucius Institute, an education organization funded by the Chinese government. Many universities have cut ties with the Confucius Institute after evidence was published that suggests it was designed by the Chinese government to exercise control over discourse on American campuses.
According to a report by Campus Reform, Binghamton University is defending its relationship with the Confucius Institute, a controversial educational organization that offers Chinese language and culture courses on American campuses.
A student at Binghamton University challenged administrator’s on their partnership with the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera, which is sponsored by the Confucius Institute headquarters in Beijing, China.
The student received a reply from university attorney Barbara Scarlett. Scarlett argued that the university’s partnership with the Confucius Institute is governed by a contract that ensures that university officials can exercise their own governance over the institute’s programming. Scarlett wrote that she is “confident” that the United States government’s national security concerns over the Confucius Institute do not apply to the Binghamton partnership.
The Confucius Institute of Chinese opera at Binghamton has been operating on the campus for over 10 years. More information on the institute can be found [on our website]. In your review of the aforementioned link, you will note a 2019 addendum signed by the University and Confucius Institute headquarters that re-affirms the campus’s autonomous governance of the institute, specifies that the institute is to be operated in compliance with Federal and State laws and policies and where there is conflict between Chinese and US laws, US laws will govern.
Given the institute’s longevity on the campus and the addendum, the campus is confident that the concerns you raise in your email do not apply to Binghamton University’s Institute.
Breitbart News reported in October 2019 that Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called for an investigation into the Confucius Institute. Critics have accused the organization, and its largest benefactor, the Chinese government, of seeking control over the discourse on American college campuses. A POLITICO report from 2018 revealed that a Chinese official even admitted that the Confucius Institute could be used to expand China’s influence abroad.
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