Student Union
Harvard Professor Arrest Highlights Intellectual Property Espionage
The recent arrest of a renowned Harvard professor and pioneer in nanoscience sheds light on relationships between American brain power, the Chinese government and funding between the two that involves intellectual property theft.
Charles Lieber, head of Harvard University's chemistry department and a world leader in nanoscience, appeared in a jumpsuit and leg shackles in court in Boston on Jan. 28 when he was charged with lying about receiving funding from Chinese research agencies. Lieber was simultaneously receiving research funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health.
The government alleges that Lieber hid being paid up to $50,000 a month by the Chinese government. He also received more than $1.5 million to create a research lab at Wuhan University of Technology in China, according to court documents.
“This is a small sample of China's ongoing campaign to siphon off American technology and know-how for Chinese gain," said Andrew Lelling, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts in a press conference when Lieber was charged. Lelling led the investigation.
Thursday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Lelling highlighted stepped up efforts to combat Chinese espionage at a conference in Washington, citing the relationships between academics and Chinese funding.
Lieber is alleged to have participated in China's “Thousand Talents Plan,” a campaign to attract American and other specialists worldwide to accelerate its own academic, research and industry efforts.
U.S. colleges, universities, research labs, and industry partners are struggling with how to identify what they see as Chinese coercion and intellectual property theft. Lieber’s arrest is the latest in a string of academics charged with taking funding from Chinese interests or the Chinese government without disclosing it.
Mark Cohen, senior fellow at the University of California Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, told VOA that “this flurry of lawsuits and defunding and a re-examination of bilateral science cooperation … is significant.”
“It shows how pervasive” coercion and questionable funding has become.
Last year a University of Kansas researcher was charged with collecting federal grant money while working full time for a Chinese university.
A Chinese government employee was arrested in a visa fraud scheme that the Justice Department says was aimed at recruiting U.S. research talent.
A university professor in Texas was accused in a trade secret case involving circuit board technology.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last year that it is investigating whether a dozen researchers there failed to report taking funding from foreign governments, specifically China.
The year before the agency sent a letter to more than 10,000 research institutions urging them to ensure that NIH grantees are properly reporting their foreign ties.
There are some “bad actors out there, but on the other hand, there is also a need for cooperation … a lot of scientists are being encouraged to develop collaborative relationships with Chinese entities,” Cohen said.
Most American scientists and researchers are used to an open environment, he said. Foreign students working on research “for the most part, they aren't working in universities on classified material.”
Cohen advocates stricter guidelines, which some universities have in place, while many do not.
“I think China does have a lot to account for, in this rash of cases, and of some of the other economic espionage cases of the past,” Cohen said. It would helpful too, he added, if China had its own guidelines “to ensure that they were not creating conflicts of interest.”
“We need collaboration. But we just need to do it the right way.”
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It’s Graduation Season – Who Might Speak at Yours?
U.S. graduation ceremonies usually feature a public figure who offers advice to young people starting their careers. This spring, graduates have heard from President Joe Biden, actor Tom Hanks, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who became the youngest prime minister in the world at age 34, told her audience that change cannot wait, even at their age. “To change things,” she said, “you have to take over.”
Read the story from Dan Friedell of VOA Learning English. (May 2023)
What Did Justin, a Golden Retriever Mix, Do to Earn a Diploma?
Justin is a service dog and accompanied his owner (who graduated with honors) to every single class for four years. The student’s university honored the dog’s hard work with his very own diploma, which he accepted, tail wagging, in front a cheering stadium of other graduates.
See Justin’s walk across the stage in this story from Bill Chappell of NPR. (May 2023)
What Are US Diplomats Doing to Further International Education?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken touted his department’s achievements in a recent address to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The State Department has relaxed student visa and study abroad requirements. In fact, it issued over a half-million student visas last year – the highest number in five years. Blinken, who spent part of his childhood in France, thanked educators for “helping us to see the world through another’s eyes.”
Watch his remarks in this press release from the State Department. (May 2023)
Soon-to-Be Graduates Put COVID Behind Them
During the COVID-19 pandemic, learning lagged for students around the world, including the U.S., where many had access to online learning. Now these soon-to-be graduates say they are behind in certain subjects because of time missed at school. VOA’s Laurel Bowman sat down with high school seniors on the cusp of graduation. Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Saqib Ul Islam.
Former US Congresswoman Liz Cheney Urges Graduates Not to Compromise With the Truth
Former U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney implored new college graduates to not compromise when it comes to the truth, excoriating her House Republican colleagues for not doing enough to combat former President Donald Trump's lies that the 2020 election was stolen.
In a commencement speech at Colorado College, the Wyoming Republican repeated her fierce criticisms of Trump but steered clear of talking about his 2024 reelection campaign or her own political future.
Cheney, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988, recalled being a political science student walking into a campus building where a Bible verse was inscribed above the entrance that read, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
"After the 2020 election and the attack of January 6th, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, the attack of January 6th wasn't a big deal, and Donald Trump wasn't dangerous," Cheney said Sunday in Colorado Springs, connecting her experiences as a student to her work in the U.S. House of Representatives. "I had to choose between lying and losing my position in House leadership."
In three terms in office, Cheney rose to the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House, a job she lost after voting to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and then not relenting in her criticism of the former president.
Cheney's speech touched on themes similar to those she has promoted since leaving office in January: addressing her work on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and standing up to the threat she believes Trump poses to democracy. She also encouraged more women to run for office and criticized one of the election-denying attorneys who worked for Trump after the 2020 election for recent remarks about college students voting.
"Cleta Mitchell, an election denier and adviser to former President Trump, told a gathering of Republicans recently that it is crucially important to make sure that college students don't vote," Cheney said. "Those who are trying to unravel the foundations of our republic, who are threatening the rule of law and the sanctity of our elections, know they can't succeed if you vote."
In an audio recording of Mitchell's presentation from a recent Republican National Committee retreat, she warns of polling places on college campuses and the ease of voting as potential problems, The Washington Post reported.
Most students and parents in the audience applauded throughout Cheney's remarks, yet some booed. Some students opposing the choice of Cheney as speaker turned their chairs away from the stage as she spoke.
Cheney's busy speaking schedule and subject matter have fueled speculation about whether she may enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary since she left office. Candidates ranging from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have calibrated their remarks about Trump, aiming to counter his attacks without alienating the supporters that won him the White House seven years ago.
Though some have offered measured criticisms, no declared or potential challenger has embraced anti-Trump messaging to the same extent as Cheney. She did not reference her plans on Sunday but has previously said she remains undecided about whether she wants to run for president.
Though she would face an uphill battle, Cheney's fierce anti-Trump stance and her role as vice chairwoman of the House committee elevated her platform high enough to call on a national network of donors and Trump critics to support a White House run.
A super PAC organized to support of her candidacy has remained active, including purchasing attack ads on New Hampshire airwaves against Trump this month.
After leaving office and being replaced by a Trump-backed Republican who defeated her in last year's primary, Cheney was appointed to a professorship at the University of Virginia and wrote "Oath and Honor," a memoir scheduled to hit shelves in November.
Two of Cheney's five children as well as her mother are also graduates of the liberal arts college.
Cheney's speaking tour appears to be picking up. She is scheduled to appear Thursday at the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan.
