MCLC: McMaster closing Confucius Institute

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Terry Russell <Terry.Russell at ad.umanitoba.ca>
Subject: McMaster closing Confucius Institute
***********************************************************

Source: The Globe and Mail (2/7/13):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/mcmaster-closing-con
fucius-institute-over-hiring-issues/article8372894/

McMaster closing Confucius Institute over hiring issues
JAMES BRADSHAW AND COLIN FREEZE

McMaster University’s experiment with hosting a controversial language and
culture school sponsored by China’s government is over. The university
will shutter its Confucius Institute this summer, severing a five-year
relationship with Hanban, the Chinese government agency that has hundreds
of similar outposts around the world and 11 others across Canada. The
decision to abandon the partnership comes in the midst of a human rights
complaint against McMaster from a former teacher at the institute. It was
sealed by concerns over hiring practices – reported last year by The Globe
and Mail – that appeared to prohibit teachers Hanban hired and sent abroad
to staff the schools from having certain beliefs.

The closing is a black mark on what’s been called China’s global
soft-power “charm offensive.” Confucius Institutes, a key component, are
regarded warily by academics and intelligence officials alike. “It’s
really around the hiring decisions, and those decisions were being made in
China,” said Andrea Farquhar, McMaster’s assistant vice-president of
public and government relations. “We were uncomfortable, and felt that it
didn’t reflect the way the university would do hiring.” McMaster’s Chinese
partners replied with a letter expressing “some disappointment,” Ms.
Farquhar said.

Chinese authorities have maintained Confucius Institutes are harmless,
designed as a “a bridge reinforcing friendship and co-operation between
China and the rest of the world” through teaching the Chinese language and
culture. But Sonia Zhao, who came to Canada to teach at McMaster’s
institute in 2011, says she is pleased. Ms. Zhao quit her post a year
later, then complained to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario that
McMaster was “giving legitimization to discrimination” because her
employment contract forced her to hide her belief in Falun Gong, a
spiritual movement the Chinese government deems dangerous. She plans to
attend mediation with the university next week. A copy of Ms. Zhao’s
contract, signed in China and obtained by The Globe, warns teachers “are
not allowed to join illegal organizations such as Falun Gong,” and Ms.
Zhao said she was trained in Beijing to dodge sensitive topics in class.
“This is very big news, it’s very encouraging,” she said on Thursday of
McMaster’s decision. “I hope other universities and colleges could take
similar steps.”

Since 2004, more than 300 Beijing-financed Confucius Institutes have
opened worldwide, most of them inside universities and colleges. Hanban
bankrolls teachers and course materials, often with hundreds of thousands
of dollars, while Canadian universities and colleges typically provide
classrooms and administrative support – a deal many cash-starved schools
have gratefully embraced. The University of Waterloo sees no issues with
its own Confucius Institute. “We don’t know anything about the contract
that [Hanban] force their teachers to sign,” said Glenn Cartwright,
principal of Waterloo’s Renison University College, which houses the
institute.“ I’m sure they have some conditions, but whether we can dictate
what those conditions can be is another story.”

Other schools, such as the University of Manitoba, have declined overtures
to open their own Confucius Institutes. McMaster spent months making “a
concerted effort” to save the partnership, but never got the assurances it
needed, Ms. Farquhar said.“We have a very clear direction on building an
inclusive community, respect for diversity, respect for individual views,
and the ability to speak about those.”