Kansas University’s new Confucius Institute may receive funding from the Chinese government, but it has the autonomy to pursue its mission on its own terms, director Bill Tsutsui said.

“This is a KU organization,” Tsutsui said. “We’re happy to use this money to create Chinese language programs, but the actual implementation, the decisions for how it’s taught – that’s in our hands.”

An article this week in the Christian Science Monitor quoted academics and others who voiced concerns about Confucius Institutes, which are popping up across the country and the globe as part of an effort to spread Chinese language and exposure to the Chinese culture. KU earlier this year opened an Institute at the Edwards campus in Overland Park.

The article voiced concerns about the lack of direction given to such Institutes and lack of funding, as well as worries that Chinese support comes at the cost of academic freedom.

Tsutsui addressed each issue, maintaining that the KU Institute has set its own clear direction, has plans for funding and is autonomous in its decision-making.

KU’s Confucius Institute is distinct from KU’s East Asian Languages and Cultures department.

The institute primarily focuses on offering Chinese language instruction to high school students, businesses and the public. This fall, it launched a program to bring Mandarin Chinese classes to seven Kansas high schools. The interactive distance learning classes are taught by a visiting instructor from China.

For startup, KU received $100,000 from the Chinese government and KU’s support amounted to $150,000.

Tsutsui said the Institute is applying for a second grant of $150,000 from the Chinese government to help support its second year of operations. But as it looks to the future, it hopes to become increasingly financially independent, relying on funds generated from programming and external grants.

“Our goal is really not to take a lot of money from KU, not to depend on money from the Chinese government, but really to become more independent,” he said.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, some top schools including Harvard have turned down Chinese dollars for language institutes.

Tsutsui said some top schools aren’t looking for the support in the $100,000 range because it’s too low of a sum, but KU is different.

“For us, $100,000 goes a really long way,” he said.

While some similar institutes have worried about the lack of guidance from the Chinese government, KU says it hasn’t received direction, and it hasn’t wanted any.

“No one in the Chinese government has told me, ‘You should do this and you shouldn’t do that,'” Tsutsui said. “We realize right now that the demand is for Chinese language. So that’s what we’re concentrating on.”

Tsutsui said Confucius Institutes need to do better at explaining their mission and explaining that they’re constructed for language, not politics.

Sheree Willis, the institute’s associate director, said the United States is in the midst of a gradual process of getting to know China and learning how to relate to the world’s most populous nation in a way that is positive and mutually beneficial.

“That is a process for many people, and perhaps there’s still a ways to go for some parts of our country to learn to not be afraid of China,” she said.