#BREAKING news is finally out of the worst case of 🇨🇳 interference in UK academia I have ever seen - reported today in the Guardian (front page) and BBC. I’ve worked on this with Prof Murphy for two years, and here is the shocking summary:
1️⃣ PRC agents visited
@SheffieldHallam Beijing recruitment office, demanding that all
@LauraTMurphy research on forced labour cease. Prof Murphy has led the world in her Xinjiang research, exposing labour abuse in China, especially in the renewable sector.
2️⃣ PRC blocked Hallam’s Uni website and email access in China, cutting off communication with students as leverage.
3️⃣ Hallam engaged directly with, and complied with the demands of, PRC operatives. THE FORCED LABOUR LAB WAS SHUT DOWN. MURPHY WAS TOLD SHE COULD NOT WORK ON CHINA. Grant funding was returned.
4️⃣ The Uni told Prof Murphy that she couldn’t work on China for other reasons, like the difficulty of obtaining insurance, and the fact she was operating remotely.
5️⃣ In fact, FOI and Subject Access Request documents reveal that the true motivation: fear of losing
Chinese students and associated income.
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The case represents an unprecedented capitulation of UK academic freedom to foreign state coercion, with implications for all universities reliant on international student income.
UK universities make a loss on every domestic student. They are exposed to authoritarian influence through their dependence on foreign fees. The Hallam case shows that they cannot defend academic freedom alone.
The Government must create some kind of values-based backstop to assist universities under threat or coercion. Guidance on how to deal with foreign states is clearly needed. A reporting channel for universities is essential, and more help to defend academics against lawfare (which Professor Murphy was swamped with) is overdue. Let this be an opportunity and a threshold moment.
And can we finally put an end to the ludicrous notion that our academic freedoms are somehow immune to the influence of the authoritarian Party-State upon which they increasingly rely?
We need to wake up, realise what’s at stake, and protect our institutions.