EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION
Public universities should first serve in-state citizens, and then other American citizens, and then foreign students. Purdue University is allegedly rejecting foreign students from certain countries, including Iran and China. Whether it is true now or not, it should be the policy of public universities to favor Americans over foreigners.
The list of “adversary nations,” include “China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela,” according to Inside Higher Ed.
A teaching assistant, Kieran Hilmer, made the allegations to the higher education news outlet. Hilmer said school officials have said this verbally but will not confirm it in writing. The university did not respond to Inside Higher Ed.
The public university in West Lafayette is reportedly making categorical rejections due to pressure from the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Inside Higher Ed reported the committee is investigating Purdue and other countries “regarding the presence and research activities of Chinese national students on their campuses.”
A report from the committee flagged Purdue for its connections to Chinese universities.
The Select Committee wrote:
While Purdue University has taken the prudent step of avoiding formal, institution-level collaborations with China-based universities or research laboratories, it nonetheless maintains considerable faculty-level engagement with Chinese institutions.
Currently, Purdue employs 16 visiting faculty from Chinese universities and has six of its own professors on sabbatical in China. These visiting Chinese scholars are embedded in critical research departments across Purdue University, including but not limited to the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, and Astronomy.
Other universities have been beset by an infiltration from Chinese subversive agents – just look at how Chinese nationals have targeted the University of Michigan, and the state in general.
The supposed best and brightest that we allegedly need to bring into our country instead brought in an agroterrorism weapon that could be used to wipe out crops.
Purdue should be prioritizing Indiana residents first. The purpose of a public university is to first train up the local citizens so they can contribute to the state economy.
Indiana taxpayers, like myself, subsidize state universities because we presumably benefit from a trained workforce of teachers, nurses, and engineers. There is also an expectation our own children will be able to attend these universities in the future.
That means our universities are meant for students from Santa Claus, Indiana, not Shanghai. Purdue and Indiana University are for students from Terre Haute, Indiana, not Tehran, Iran.
History should raise questions about how many Chinese students that come here can be trusted, particularly in sensitive areas like agricultural research and engineering.
Limiting foreign students might mean some American kids will never experience a true Chinese New Year, but that will help ensure America stays safe.
MORE: Three more Chinese researchers arrested for ‘biological material’ smuggling
