Documents show Harvard disciplined protesters for disrupting a speech by the Chinese ambassador, but not a Chinese student who dragged a protester away.
Chairs of two House select committees criticized Harvard University on Oct. 18 for reprimanding student protesters who disrupted the Chinese ambassador’s speech, while failing to discipline a Chinese student who forcibly removed one of the protesters.
The incident occurred on April 20, when Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng gave an opening address for the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s China Conference 2024, an annual student-run event organized by the Greater China Society.
His speech was interrupted by several protesters who yelled slogans including “China lies. People die,” and “Free Tibet.”
One of the protesters, Taiwanese American student Cosette Wu, shouted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had devastated Hong Kong’s democracy and was seeking to do the same to Taiwan.
She was allegedly dragged out of the hall by her arms by a male student who helped organize the event. Other protesters were escorted out by university police.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, wrote to interim Harvard University President Alan Garber in July to ask several questions about the incident, including what disciplinary actions, if any, had been taken.
The committee on Friday published some of the documents Moolenaar obtained.
Moolenaar and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the university failed to apply its rules consistently.
According to the documents obtained by Moolenaar, the Chinese student who dragged the other student away has allegedly violated school rules on physical violence, but he escaped disciplinary action after a dean felt the student had been “punished … enough” after being doxxed, meaning the student’s personal information was published online. The student has never been officially identified, but his alleged identity was widely shared in Chinese-speaking social media circles shortly after the incident.
In an Oct. 18 statement, Moolenaar said the Ivy League school is “punishing brave students who spoke out against the CCP’s human rights abuses while not only letting the student … off scot-free but also handing him an apology.”
The committee chair called on U.S. universities to “wake up” to the CCP’s influence on U.S. campuses and protect students who speak out against the communist regime.
Foxx also said the university failed to apply its rules consistently during the anti-Israel protests that flared up on campuses across the country.
“Whether it’s pro-Hamas or pro-CCP agitators, administrators apologize to and actually encourage some students to keep expressing their so-called ‘meaningful discourse’ at the expense of the safety of other students. It’s unacceptable,” she said in a statement.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who is also on the Education and Workforce Committee, said she looks forward to working with Moolenaar and Foxx to “hold Harvard accountable and to end Communist China’s infiltration of American universities.”
Three protesters, including Wu, were placed on disciplinary probation between May 17 and May 20 over “inappropriate social behavior,” and they were informed of the decision on May 21, the documents show.
According to the probation letters sent to the students, disciplinary probation does not appear permanently on students’ transcript but will be disclosed to “graduate or professional schools under certain circumstances.”
Investigative reports recommending disciplinary actions cited school rules that require students to “behave in a mature and responsible manner” and not interfere with the freedom of speech.
The Chinese student who dragged Wu out of the hall was not disciplined.
In a letter to the student dated May 22, Academic Dean Martin West told him that he had violated school policy on physical violence and the General Standards of Conduct but would not be reprimanded for the violations.
West said that while it was “preferable” that security officers handle the protest, the student’s action was “understandable” in the context that he had received guidance from event organizers to intervene in disruptions.
West also expressed deep regret that the student and his family had “experienced significant harm as a result of the event.”
Harvard University didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.