American Universities Are Schooling China on Authoritarian Tactics

The attempt to limit speech through peer pressure risks turning campuses into surveillance states.

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Students walk towards Sather Gate, the entrance to the University of California at Berkeley, 2011.

Kirkikis/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

Shortly before the 2022 Winter Olympic Games began in Beijing, posters satirizing China’s record on human rights began showing up on the George Washington University campus.

The GWU Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) immediately called on the university to “severely” punish those responsible for the posters. They claimed that the images, which featured faceless athletes engaging in winter sports above messages referring to violence against Tibetan monks and Muslim Uyghurs, “insulted China” and represented an “extremely vicious” act against Asian students.

Christian Schneider

About the Author

Christian Schneider

Christian Schneider is a National Review contributor and writes the Anti-Knowledge newsletter. He is a co-host of the podcast Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL.

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