Admins work for Kunshan web freedom

Administrators are confident that academic standards will be maintained at Duke Kunshan University despite restrictive Chinese Internet policy. How the University will maintain these standards, however, remains unclear.

In a document released in March, administrators guaranteed academic freedom—including unrestricted Internet and library access—because it is an integral component of DKU’s success as a model of western education in China. The joint agreement document between Duke, the city of Kunshan and DKU’s legal partner, Wuhan University, stipulates that certain academic quality standards must be met, Provost Peter Lange said in an interview March 29. The agreement is expected to be completed and approved in coming weeks, though Lange said he was not at liberty to discuss the terms of the agreement.

“Academic freedom in teaching, research, scholarly communication and access to information [are] key ingredient[s] of academic quality,” the document, which was prepared by the Office of the Provost and the Office of Global Strategy and Programs, states. “Duke will need to take the lead in ensuring that these principles are woven into the fabric of daily life at Duke Kunshan University.”

Although administrators have repeatedly expressed their confidence in obtaining unrestricted Internet, certain details have yet to be revealed.

When the issue of academic freedom was raised at the Academic Council meeting in March, President Richard Brodhead said he is “fairly certain” that the DKU campus will have unrestricted Internet, noting that he believes some Chinese universities already have unlimited access on their campuses. Brodhead did not, however, explain the details of the Internet arrangement between DKU and the Chinese government.

“We need to insist on [these values], but we can’t be naive to think they will be practiced the same way [as in the United States],” Brodhead said at the meeting. “It does seem better to learn something about China—to help our students to learn to negotiate these differences—than just to say it’s impossible.”

The Chinese government monitors Internet traffic, censoring content that it believes to be threatening to the state, said Ken Rogerson, who has expertise in international Internet policy and serves as the director of undergraduate studies for public policy. Many Chinese Internet regulations are similar to those in the United States, such as blocking content that includes violent threats against the government or child pornography, but with even stronger restrictions, he added. He also noted that through negotiation, foreign journalists were allowed to freely browse the Internet in designated locations during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Limited freedom of information would pose many challenges for DKU students, particularly those studying business, said Helen Sun, author of “Internet Policy in China: A Field Study of Internet Cafes” and a communications professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. The restrictions the Chinese government imposes to protect its own interests make it difficult for people to learn about western business practices, Sun said, noting that people are even unable to search for the term “Communist Party.”

“There’s no way you can do business without dealing with the government,” she said. “[DKU] is going to see those barriers.”

There are, however, ways to navigate around what some call the “‘Great Firewall of China,’” Sun said, noting that young people are finding ways to access restricted pages like Facebook. People are able to use virtual private network software to access the Internet through foreign countries.

The University has already established its own VPN that allows faculty and students to access Duke email and library information from abroad and remote locations, Rogerson said. Students participating in study abroad and DukeEngage programs in China told The Chronicle in November that they were able to access sites blocked in the country by using the VPN.

Rogerson added that it is possible for DKU and the Chinese government to come to an agreement about Internet freedom through an official contract.

“The best possible thing to do is have a line in the contract that says, ‘We have free and open access to the Internet,’” he said. “Past history says conversations could work, but not every conversation has worked.”

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