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LSE staff call for suspension of courses with Peking University in pro-democracy row

14 November 2013

Members of UCU at the London School of Economics (LSE) have called on the institution to suspend all joint courses with Peking University in a row over the sacking of a professor known for his pro-democracy views.

Last month Professor Xia Yeliang was dismissed by the university for poor teaching. In a letter to LSE director Craig Calhoun the local UCU branch doubts the poor teaching reason behind Xia's dismissal and says LSE should criticise the dismissal and the harassment of Xia and his family.

Professor Xia claims he was sacked following pressure from top Chinese authorities. In 2008 Xia helped Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel peace prize laureate, draft a petition demanding reforms to China's one-party system. The following year he wrote a blog criticising the propaganda minister, Liu Yunshan, for overseeing a draconian censorship regime. Liu Yunshan is now a member of China's highest ruling body, the Politburo Standing Committee.

The union says it supports attempts by LSE to establish the facts of Xia's dismissal. However, it says LSE should suspend all its joint courses with Peking University with immediate effect in order to avoid more adverse publicity over foreign partnerships, following the links with the Gaddafi regime affair

See here for more details of LSE's links with Peking University.

The letter in full:

Dear Craig

Links with Peking University

Following the dismissal of Professor Xia Yeliang from his academic post at Peking University, the LSE UCU supports the attempts of the LSE to establish the facts of his dismissal. However, considering that Prof Xia is a long standing advocate of freedom and democracy and has suffered years of abuse and harassment by the Chinese state, the official grounds for dismissal for poor teaching are clearly very dubious.

As a leading global Social Science centre of excellence, the LSE should be in the forefront of campaigning for the academic freedom of social scientists in HE around the world and in particular in institutions we are linked with.

Given the problematic record of the LSE in dealing with foreign partners and the need to avoid more adverse publicity, the LSE UCU calls on the School to send a clear message by suspending all its joint courses with Peking University with immediate effect and conducting a thorough review of the School's links with institutions that cannot respect academic and human rights.  

We also call on the LSE to publicly raise its voice against Prof Xia's dismissal and harassment of him and his family, and furthermore to copy the example of Wellesley College in Massachusetts by offering Prof Xia a place at the LSE as a visiting scholar.

Last updated: 10 December 2015

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