Chinese Yale students speak out against university president attending NYC event with CCP official

A group of Yale University students from China published an open letter to the school’s president urging him not to “lend Yale’s name to human rights abusers.”

The group of Chinese and Hong Konger students published a letter to university president Peter Salovey in the Yale Daily News expressing their concerns about the April 8 Yale Club US-China Distinguished Colloquium in New York City featuring Chinese consul general Ping Huang.

The students pointed out Huang “recently defended the Chinese government’s genocidal policies towards the Uyghur people in Xinjiang” and noted the introduction of his speech was omitted from the English homepage of the event.

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“While the introduction of Mr. Huang’s speech is curiously omitted from the English homepage of the colloquium, your face is featured just above his in the Chinese promotion of this event on WeChat,” the students wrote the day before the speech.

“This WeChat introduction of the colloquium sets the tone of this event as ‘paying attention to the opportunities and challenges the world faces in a new year’ and ‘seeking peaceful coexistence and mutual benefit in the path of reconciliation between the two countries,’” they continued.

“A PDF one-pager introduction of the colloquium specifies the options offered for the event sponsors, including ‘VIP tickets,’ ‘an advertisement package with logo and business introduction’ displayed on the colloquium’s promotional materials, and the opportunity to ‘hold an in-person event at Yale University,’” they added.

The students urged Salovey to address “the Chinese government’s human rights violations and the safety concerns about Beijing’s transnational suppression of free speech and academic freedom,” and its “impact on the Yale Chinese, Hong Kong, Tibetan, Uyghur, and other communities” in order to “foster an open and honest dialogue on ‘the challenges the world faces.’”

Additionally, the students urged Salovey to “facilitate a discussion in this colloquium where the audience can freely pose questions to Mr. Huang without safety concerns.”

“You, the head of Yale University, a non-partisan educational institution, must safeguard academic freedom and the wellbeing of students, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion at Yale. However, amid ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and the continuing persecution of protesters in the peaceful White Paper Protests in China, your silence on the Chinese government’s human rights abuses and the impact they have on the Yale community, coupled with your presence alongside a Chinese government official who has publicly defended the abuses against the Uyghurs, could be perceived as an endorsement of the Chinese government’s oppressive policies and a cover-up of the human rights violations under the guise of ‘peaceful coexistence.’”

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The students wrote that on “Yale’s campus, students already face serious security concerns with transnational surveillance from the Chinese Government” and noted in 2019, “while pursuing his Master’s degree at Yale, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law received numerous death threats from individuals claiming to be Yale students.”

“You and your administration remained silent against this attack on the safety of a student and free speech on campus,” the Chinese and Hong Konger students wrote. “Seeing your involvement in the Colloquium alongside Mr. Huang, we are deeply concerned about Yale’s ability to provide an environment free from fear of censorship or retaliation in our academic activities.”

The students slammed the Yale president for his silence and his administration being “habitually silent on the Chinese government’s human rights abuses,” including the violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, the “inhumane COVID-19 lockdowns in China,” and the “persecution of peaceful protesters” during the White Paper protests in China.

“Your silence, coupled with Yale’s lack of mental health support and academic accommodations, has directly undermined the wellbeing of Yale students during these difficult times,” the students wrote.

“As Yale students, we value academic exchanges that foster intellectual diversity and collaboration across different nationalities,” they continued. “However, we caution against the potential misuse of Yale’s academic credentials to condone human rights abuses.”

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“We strongly encourage all attendees of this event, especially Yale members, to address and inquire about the Chinese government’s human rights violations against Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, Chinese people and other communities within and outside of China,” they wrote.

“We urge you and Yale University to take a firm stance for the human rights abuses caused by the government with which Yale has close ties, and to uphold the values that are fundamental to Yale education: ‘Lux et Veritas,’” the students concluded the letter.

Fox News Digital first reported on Ping’s controversial comments from a August 2021 podcast, where he praised the Communist Party of China (CPC) as a “great party” and claimed that human rights violations against Uyghurs in China were “lies.”

“There are lots of lies here fabricated by some people with their own political agenda,” Huang said, denying the existence of genocide and internment camps.”

“As I said, there’s no genocide, not single evidence to prove that there’s a genocide or something there. It’s just a slandering,” Huang said. “As for the vocational and education training center, I think these centers are set by the law … to counterterrorism matters aimed at targeting the terrorism and the religious extremists.”

Salovey has come under scrutiny by the university press regarding his trip to China amid allegations a Yale professor gave the Chinese government genetic data they used to profile ethnic minorities in their oppression in the communist country.

In 2019, Salovey traveled to Shanghai Jiao Tong University-Yale Immune-metabolic Research Center in China to participate in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine amid the controversy.

The trip came after a New York Times article revealing that Yale School of Medicine emeritus professor Kenneth Kidd gave genetic data to scientists from China’s Ministry of Public Security, which then used the data to persecute the country’s Uighur Muslims.

Yale University did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne contributed reporting.