Professors express concern over political implications of the proposal
On November 13th, 2019, the Faculty Council met for their third meeting this year. The discussion centred around the proposed dual degree partnership between U of T Law and Tsinghua University.
Three dual degree programs have been proposed: an LLB at Tsinghua followed by an LLM at U of T; two LLMs at each university; or a JD at U of T followed by an LLM at Tsinghua.
Tsinghua University is one of the top universities in China and was ranked 23rd in the World University Rankings by the Times Higher Education. Dean Iaccobucci noted that Tsinghua University has connections with the U of T Faculty of Law through alumni, including former professor Betty Ho, who was a faculty member at both institutions. The Dean noted that the law school currently has an exchange program with Tsinghua, that other collaborations with Tsinghua exist, and explained that the proposal is essentially an extension of those existing partnerships.
He also noted the intellectual prowess of Tsinghua students, and that bringing more students of that calibre into the U of T community would be a great learning opportunity. Professor Gillian Hadfield agreed and noted that an exchange of people and ideas would help promote the rule of law. Professor Anthony Niblett, who had recently returned from Tsinghua, said that he found the school to have a lively academic atmosphere.
However, other professors expressed their objections to the proposal.
At the meeting, Professor Mohammed Fadel commented that he was unsure about the timing and was uncomfortable with U of T students going to Tsinghua University. He elaborated on his remarks to Ultra Vires.
“My main concern is centred on our inability to protect students in the admittedly unlikely event that the Chinese state took some adverse action against a student.”
He said that while the probability may seem small, U of T has no way of reliably predicting what the risks are. He also pointed to the potential undermining of academic freedom. “Because of the unpredictability of an adverse security action, students and professors will inevitably engage in self-censorship or perhaps simply not feel secure enough to go in the first place.”
Professor Kent Roach also expressed during the meeting that a partnership with Tsinghua University at this time could send the wrong message. He explained to Ultra Vires that his comment was in relation to “the worsening human rights situation in the PRC, specifically the mass detention of Uyghurs, the detention of two Canadians, and the situation in Hong Kong.”
Roach also spoke about potential safety concerns. “I have lectured three times before in the PRC but now would not feel comfortable or even safe lecturing in the PRC given my scholarly criticisms of their counter-terrorism programs.”
The agenda for this proposal was posted shortly before the Faculty Council meeting, and as a result, attendees did not have the chance to review the proposal prior to the meeting. The Dean decided to put off the matter for further discussion and to vote on the issue at the next meeting.
