By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
University of Kansas’ Strong Hall. Wikimedia Commons.
In 2019, Professor Franklin Tao was accused of spying for China. Since then, the courts have cleared him—but the University of Kansas (UK) refuses to reinstate Tao, over the protests of his colleagues.
The UK fired Tao in 2023, even though the courts had already overturned the most serious charges against him. Colleagues at the Asian American Faculty Staff Council and the Faculty Senate have sent letters of support for Tao, all of which the UK appears to have ignored.
Tao was charged under President Donald Trump’s 2019 China Initiative of wire fraud and hiding ties to China. But just a handful of months after a jury convicted Tao in 2022, a judge threw out all but one single charge, making a false statement. Tao was ultimately sentenced to time served with no fine or restitution.
Biden discontinued the China Initiative in 2022. It is unclear whether Trump will reinstate it.