Thursday’s Academic Council discussion of a proposed four-year undergraduate program at Duke Kunshan University focused on the opportunity as a strategic choice for Duke, as well as academic freedom in China and whether the new school could “open doors” in the country.
Duke Kunshan opened in 2014 with three master’s degree programs and an undergraduate semester offering. The addition of an undergraduate degree program, however, is a significant next step and would mark a milestone in Duke’s commitment to the project.
The Academic Council will vote in November on whether to approve the undergraduate degree program, which has been reviewed by numerous faculty committees and discussed in closed Academic Council sessions.
President Richard H. Brodhead opened the discussion noting the transparency with which Provost Sally Kornbluth and others have addressed the many questions about the finances and logistics of the proposed undergraduate degree program. He reminded the faculty about the successes of the graduate programs in medical physics, global health and management studies. A fourth program in environmental policy will begin next year.
“They look to us to train students very differently in the tradition of liberal arts education,” Brodhead said. “Duke could be known as the international institution that brought that model of education to China.
“There is also the question of what would be the meaning of missing this opportunity?” Brodhead said.
Kornbluth reviewed the performance of the current master’s programs and said Duke Kunshan has upheld Duke’s expectations on academic freedom. She said she had heard from several Duke faculty members who had engaging experiences teaching students there.
But Kornbluth added that nobody at Duke was naïve about the state of human rights in China. A group of faculty members, including several from the School of Law, spoke Thursday of their concerns that establishing a “bubble of academic freedom” is not sufficient.
Professor Jamie Boyle shared the annual report from human rights groups about an ongoing crackdown on human rights lawyers in China whom he said are being charged with criminal offenses as a pretext to silence non-violent political activity.
Boyle added that Duke has to accept some responsibility if students in particular get in trouble with authorities. “If we teach students about queer rights, Tibet and other politically sensitive issues, and then they act upon them in the outside world, just as we would expect them to in a liberal education, bad things can happen. What will we say to them then? Do we say we promised you freedom of thought in this special university bubble and nothing more?”
But the council also heard from faculty members from a variety of departments who have significant experience teaching and doing research in China. Political Science Professor Melanie Manion, who has more than three decades of experience in China, was there in 1989 when the Tiananmen Square protests occurred.
“I’ve not naïve,” Manion said. “I’ve been there for too many crackdowns. And we’re going to continue to talk about academic freedom. But I am excited about this project, and the people I work with there are as well. We have seen oasis of freedom develop from such effort.”
The bottom line, she said, was that efforts that help instill a culture of freedom in China have the potential to bring change.
“My colleagues there have a simple message: ‘Whatever opens China is good. Whatever closes it is bad,” Manion said.
Others noted the opportunities Duke can provide students from China. Professor Carlos Rojas said Duke is already accepting hundreds of Chinese students, who get a Duke education in Durham and return to China inspired from their learning. “If we are really concerned about ramifications of our liberal education we should consider what happens to these mainland Chinese students. But there haven’t been ramifications yet,” he said.
Michael Merson, the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute and vice president and vice provost for global affairs, added that it’s not that Duke doesn’t already have experience in the region, noting the decades of research there and the growth of Duke-NUS in nearby Singapore.
The discussion will continue Nov. 17, when the council will vote on a resolution supporting establishment of the undergraduate program.