NYC’s Columbia U Got $1M to Fund ‘Chinese Propaganda’

By: Ellen Cans

Columbia University received $1 million to underwrite an educational program that the U.S. State Department now calls part of China’s “global influence and propaganda apparatus.”

As reported by the NY Post, Columbia’s “Confucius Institute” was established following an agreement sealed in 2013 “to help enhance Columbia faculty’s collaborations with Chinese scholars in teaching and research,” as per a page on the university’s website. According to the agreement, the school of Arts and Sciences received funding for the program from Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarter in Beijing, and was charged with selecting projects and collaborating with Chinese scholars for the teaching and research of Chinese history and culture. China set up similar Confucius Institute programs in other universities across the world, but Columbia is the only Ivy League school to have joined, as per the Washington Free Beacon.

Over the summer, the US State Department designated the Washington, DC-based Confucius Institute US Center, as a Chinese “foreign mission.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the change in designation was made to help “recognizing CIUS for what it is: an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms.” “Confucius Institutes are funded by the [People’s Republic of China] and part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus,” Pompeo added in an August Press Statement. He said that while students should have access to Chinese education it should be “free from the manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies.”

The move urged educators and school administrators to look into whether the CCP-backed programs should continue. The change came after came China altered the name of the Beijing-based Confucius Institute Headquarters, also known as Hanban, to become known as the Ministry of Education Center for Language Education and Cooperation. Over the summer, many of the Confucius Institutes in the US and Europe closed due to accusations that they were promoting propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party.

Columbia University’s deal to add a Confucius Institute had included a pledge of $1 million over five years from Hanban. Columbia professor Robert Hymes, then chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Culture, was in charge of soliciting research proposals for the program. It is unclear if Columbia University is still operating the Confucius Institute. The last post on Columbia’s website related to the program was dated 2018.

A Columbia spokesperson responded to request for comment by saying, “The university’s disclosure of funding from foreign sources fully complies with federal requirements for reporting donations.”