Letter: China funds

To the editor:

Regular readers of the Saturday Column written by Dolph C. Simons Jr., know two things. First, Simons is very knowledgeable about what is happening at Kansas University. Second, he cares deeply about KU and wants it to prosper.

Simons’ concern about KU’s financial situation was clearly expressed in his Saturday Column of July 26. Noting the steady decline in state appropriations for Kansas institutions of higher education, he asked, “Where is the necessary money (to operate KU) going to come from?” He offered no answer, but did firmly state his opposition to federal government funding for higher education. In his words, “(T)his would not be good for the country. The federal government has no business getting into the ‘education’ of Americans.”

What an interesting statement. Given his awareness of what goes on at KU, Simons must know that, for years, KU has been accepting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) funding and joining with the CCP to operate a Confucius Institute that, according to the American Association of University Professors, functions as an arm of the Chinese state and opposes academic freedom. Hopefully, in a future Saturday Column he will explain why he finds the prospect of U.S. federal government support for higher education so alarming yet has no objection to Chancellor Gray-Little taking CCP money and helping put the Chinese government in the business of “educating” Kansans. Can Simons possibly think that this is a good situation?