Professor at Emory University seeks legal support amid US probe into academics’ ties to China
- Yu Shan Ping says he was asked by his medical school in Atlanta, Georgia to vacate his office by the end of June
- Academic says he is concerned after two of his colleagues were sacked last month
A professor of Chinese ethnicity at an American university is seeking legal advice amid an investigation by the FBI and other organisations aimed at exposing Chinese influence in US state-funded science and research that last month led to the sacking of two of his colleagues.
Yu Shan Ping is a professor of anaesthesiology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he has worked since 2008. Despite being tenured, he said he was recently asked by his medical school to vacate his office by the end of June and told that the university planned to move his research laboratory.
“I’m looking for legal help and welcome any recommendations,” he told the South China Morning Post. “My plan will depend on what the school does next.”
His comments came amid a nationwide inquiry into the links “Chinese” academics working in the United States might have to Beijing, an inquiry that has sparked criticism from universities that say it has created a climate of fear.
In March, Yu and several of his colleagues wrote to Emory University president Claire Sterk, urging her to join the heads of University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in condemning the targeting of faculty over their ties to China.