Medgar Evers College has added a Chinese-funded institute to its Brooklyn campus at the same time other schools are booting similar programs.
A Confucius Institute opened this fall at the school, which is part of the City University of New York, to teach Chinese language and culture classes.
Medgar Evers is to get $1 million over five years by hosting the institute, which will also provide classes to local public school students, according to a CUNY announcement.
Confucius Institutes, which first opened in the US in 2004 and are also located at Columbia University and at CUNY’s Baruch College, have become controversial because of their ties to the Chinese government.
The American Association of University Professors in 2014 said that they “function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore academic freedom.”
The AAUP recommended universities boot the programs unless their agreements with the institutes adhered to certain guidelines including that colleges have control over recruiting teachers and determining curriculum and choice of texts.
An AAUP spokeswoman said the group had not changed its position since its 2014 statement.
FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2018 said the agency was “warily watching” the institutes.
In the last year, at least 10 institutes have closed or announced plans to shutter, according to an accounting by Inside Higher Ed.
A Medgar Evers spokeswoman would not comment on whether the college was following the AAUP guidelines, and would not provide a copy of the school’s agreement to run the institute.
Instead, spokeswoman Giulia Prestia said, “Chinese languages are the most widely spoken languages in the world. College students including Baruch College students benefit from Chinese language classes offered in collaboration with the Confucius Institute. Medgar Evers College’s expectation is that its students might similarly benefit by participating in a global forum.”