As Cornell faculty, we would like to respond to the recent Cornell Sun article titled “Faculty Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Chinese Partnerships” and its discussion of the Faculty Senate Resolution 184: Academic Freedom in Cornell Programs in China and Other Parts of the Global Hubs System.
As faculty engaged in research and partnerships around the world, we would like to take this opportunity to respond to and differentiate specific concerns about partnerships with Chinese universities from general concerns about academic freedom, and clarify and correct information about the Global Hubs.
First, academic freedom is an unequivocal and defining principle of any relationship established and nurtured at Cornell University. The Global Hubs seek to build partnerships and create spaces that advance knowledge and understanding, scientific discoveries, and widen perspectives and possibilities. This takes different forms across disciplines, fields, topics and in different socio-political contexts. Academic freedom at the institutional partnership level is what allows such outcomes to be realized.
We seek the same for our students, that they be exposed to new ideas and different approaches, and that we can be assured that they can operate in a safe and secure intellectual environment.
Second, we would like to share that many faculty across Cornell are productively engaged in the Global Hubs and are already benefiting from increased opportunities for collaborative research, student mobility and community links. The Cornell Global Hubs initiative, launched in August 2022, has lowered infrastructural barriers to research collaborations and student exchange in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Australia and across Asia. The Global Hubs partnerships have spurred new conversations on Future Cities, Democratic Change and Challenges, Inequalities and Social Justice, Migration and Mobilities, Big Data AI and New Media, One Health, Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Development and Sustainable Infrastructure and Energy. They have provided new opportunities for faculty from across all schools and colleges to apply for co-funded seed grants for collaborative research projects with Hubs partners. And they have increased access and a diversity of experiences for students in Hubs locations, including engaged internships and research opportunities.
Third, the Global Hubs do not expand our presence in China. Rather, Hubs provide more support for research and student exchange elsewhere in the world. During the establishment of the Global Hubs network with partners on every continent, long-standing relationships with Chinese universities stayed constant, while the actual number of students and faculty mobility opportunities declined significantly due to a combination of the pandemic and geopolitical factors.
We also wish to express clearly that we as faculty at Cornell deeply value international work. We see the benefits to be gained for knowledge, understanding and addressing the most important and pressing questions of our time, and doing so in a way that does not replicate American-centric perspectives of hegemonic knowledge. In fact, we are engaged in Global Hubs partnerships in part because we believe the University should be doing even more to support and nurture international work.
Finally, we worry that the blanket language such as “condemning Chinese partnerships” risks conflating important differences between peoples and their governments. In our endorsement of academic freedom, we appreciate critical scholarly attention to particular instances and acts, systems and structures of oppression. Separating scholarly critical assessments of government from our positive engagement with citizens strengthens Cornell’s global community of students and scholars, as we seek to continue learning from the diverse and complex world we inhabit.
Signed,
Rachel Beatty Riedl
Director of the Einaudi Center for International Studies; John S. Knight Professor of International Studies and Professor in the Government Department and the Brooks School of Public Policy
Ernesto Bassi
Associate Professor, History Department; Director of the Latin American and
Caribbean Studies Program, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Mabel Berezin
Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences in Sociology; Director of the Institute for
European Studies, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Iftikhar Dadi
The John H. Burris Professor, Department of the History of Art and Visual Studies;
Binenkorb Director, South Asia Program, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue
Professor of Global Development and the Brooks School of Public Policy; Interim Director, Institute for African Development, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Matthew Evangelista
President White Professor of History and Political Science, Department of Government
Interim Director, Reppy Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Thomas Pepinsky
Walter F. LaFeber Professor, Department of Government, A&S and Brooks School of Public Policy
Director, Southeast Asia Program, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for National University of Singapore, Singapore
Eric Tagliacozzo
John Stambaugh Professor of History, Department of History, Director, Comparative Muslim Societies Program, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Jeremy Wallace
Professor, Department of Government
Director, East Asia Program, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Sarah Besky
Associate Professor, International and Comparative Labor and Labor Relations,
Law, and History, ILR; Global Hubs Faculty Lead for India
Virginia Doellgast
Professor, Comparative Employment Relations, ILR
Global Hubs Faculty Lead, Kings College London, United Kingdom
Gustavo Flores-Macias
Associate Vice Provost for International Affairs
Professor, Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico
Nate Foster
Professor, Computer Science
Interim Associate Dean for Research, Bowers CIS
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for University of Edinburgh
Mark Milstein
Clinical Professor, Management and Organizations, Johnson Graduate School of Management; Director, Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise
Global Hubs Faculty Advisory Committee At-Large Member as Chair of The Committee on Academic Programs and Policies (CAPP) of the Faculty Senate.
Ying Hua
Associate Professor, Human Centered Design,
College of Human Ecology
Director, Cornell China Center
Cornell University
Lee Humphreys
Professor and Chair, Department of Communication
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for Denmark
Mostafa Minawi
Associate Professor of History, Department of History
Director of Critical Ottoman & Post-Ottoman Studies, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for MENA Strategy
Muna Ndulo
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International & Comparative Law
Elizabeth and Arthur Reich Director, Leo and Arvilla Berger International Legal Studies Program, Cornell Law School
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for University of Zambia
Kenneth Roberts
Richard J. Schwartz Professor, Department of Government, A&S and Brooks School of Public Policy
Faculty Lead Democratic Threats and Resilience Initiative, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies; Global Hubs Faculty Lead for Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
Andrew McDonald
Associate Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences
Associate Professor, Department of Global Health
Global Hubs Faculty Lead for University of Ghana
Rachel Beatty Riedl is a Professor in the Department of Government, the Brooks School of Public Policy and a John S. Knight Professor of International Studies. She is the Director of the Einaudi Center for International Studies. Comments can be sent to [email protected]. Rachel Beatty Riedl can be reached at [email protected]. Guest Room runs periodically this semester.