NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS: CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE
www.nas.org/ConfuciusInstitutes.
Nearly one year after the release of Outsourced to China: Confucius Institutes and Soft Power in American Higher Education, NAS’s report remains front page news. Through our work on this issue, NAS has also become a go-to resource for Senators and Representatives considering policy changes to address Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes at American college campuses.
Earlier this month, Florida Senator Marco Rubio cited NAS’s report in a letter sent to all Confucius Institutes in Florida. Senator Rubio also questioned FBI head Christopher Wray in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on February 13, at which Wray acknowledged, for the first time, that the FBI is investigating Confucius Institutes.
NAS has briefed staff members for six U.S. Senators and Representatives; the Government Accountability Office; the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee; and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. We have recommended specific policy changes to address Confucius Institutes.
Outsourced to China has become one of several key studies—including Academic Malware by University of Chicago anthropologist Marshall Sahlins and the documentary In the Name of Confucius—that have turned Confucius Institutes into a topic of national discussion. We are gratified to note that at least one Confucius Institute, at the University of West Florida, is now preparing to close.
NAS is committed to engaging with members of Congress, academic institutions, and members of the media to promote academic integrity and push back against the rise of Confucius Institutes. We encourage NAS members to learn more about the threat Confucius Institutes pose to academic freedom and institutional integrity by visiting www.nas.org/ConfuciusInstitutes.
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