VOA慢速英語:US-China College Partnership

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English this is the education report. [00:05.68]American colleges and universities [00:08.47]are setting up satellite campuses [00:10.97]with Chinese schools to reach new students. [00:14.30]In June, Wellesley College, [00:17.22]a women’s college in Massachusetts, [00:19.66]signed a partnership with Peking University in Beijing. [00:24.60]Now Wellesley professors are expressing concern [00:28.78]over what they say is a campaign [00:31.58]to suppress political dissent [00:34.44]at their Chinese sister school. [00:36.83]Xia Yeliang also known as David, [00:40.13]is a senior professor of economics at Peking University. [00:44.98]His classroom lectures and blogs [00:47.87]have made him a leading supporter [00:50.06]of political change in China. [00:52.35]“I can’t bear any more. [00:54.70]I think the regression is so shameless, [00:58.38]I think we should have the fundamental institutional change [01:02.91]to establish constitutional democracy and rule of law. [01:07.69]And I think in the future, [01:09.93]all citizens should have independent rights [01:13.47]and should have individual freedom.” [01:16.35]Professor Xia's opinions may cost him his job. [01:20.69]In the coming weeks, [01:22.78]Peking University faculty [01:25.29]will vote on whether to dismiss him. [01:28.11]The university has not been responding to question about [01:32.39]why the professor could lose his job. [01:35.20]China’s state-run Global Times newspaper [01:39.33]published an editorial questioning his job performance, [01:43.36]the opinion piece label the professor an “extremist liberal.” [01:48.64]Professor Xia says his troubles [01:51.33]are part of wider campaign against freedom of speech [01:55.07]under China’s new president, Xi Jinping. [01:58.16]“They have much more severe measures towards intellectuals, [02:03.54]to anyone who there speaks out, even for some businessman. [02:08.02]So they have a concentrated campaign these a few months; [02:13.85]they have arrested so many people,” stated Xia. [02:15.94]A debate over Professor Xia’s future [02:18.97]comes just months after Wellesley College [02:21.67]announced this academic partnership with Peking University. [02:25.35]Now the partnership with Peking University has been criticised [02:30.99]by almost 40% of Wellesley's faculty. [02:34.87]130 Wellesley professors signed a letter [02:39.50]urging the college to rethink its partnership [02:42.49]with Peking University if Professor Xia is dismissed. [02:46.62]William Joseph was one of the authors of the letter, [02:51.05]he is the Political Science professor at Wellesley, [02:54.54]who focuses on Chinese politics and ideology. [02:58.68]“I have been engaging with this regime [03:01.12][Chinese government] for more than 40 years, [03:02.37]and I am willing to live within limits generally, [03:10.54]But when it becomes so specific as in David’s case, [03:16.17]where I believe it's so blatantly [03:19.51]a violation of academic freedom [03:21.85]rather than just self-censorship, [03:25.93]that is the major tool of the dictatorship in China, [03:32.70]I felt I had no choice but to take a stand.” [03:37.08]The President of Wellesley College Kim Bottomly [03:40.43]said the Wellesley's faculty [03:42.42]will reconsider the school's relationship [03:45.45]with Peking Univeristy if Professor Xia is fired. [03:49.94]That is the Education Report from VOA Learning English, [03:55.12]I'm Christopher Cruise.

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