Chinese Universities Are Enshrining Communist Party Control In Their Charters
It wasn't just the fact that one of China's best universities had changed its charter last December to emphasize loyalty to the ruling Communist Party that raised eyebrows. Shanghai's Fudan University also deleted principles like freedom of thought, and did so publicly, as if expecting praise.
Furious students staged a rare and risky protest in the school cafeteria in December. They sang the school's anthem, which praises academic freedom.
"Everyone was enraged," one of the student protesters told NPR. She withheld her name because of the almost certain repercussions for speaking publicly on the matter.
To disguise their protest plans, the students publicized the event as a marriage proposal.
Fudan is one of at least three universities that have revised their charters since 2018, emphasizing unswerving loyalty to the Communist Party, an NPR
