Since then, China has changed a great deal. But the problems that triggered the Tiananmen Square protests are still present.

Today’s China is far more prosperous than it was in 1989. Its major cities glisten with impressive, new buildings, but much of the work was done by low-paid rural migrants with little security or health insurance. Its leading companies compete successfully throughout the world, but often depend on maintaining the favor of government officials at home. Poverty has declined significantly and a middle-class has blossomed. But the gap between rich and poor is vast.

More people in China have access to the Internet than in any other country in the world. Yet, web traffic is closely monitored and censored. Don’t expect to watch YouTube or read The New York Times when you are in Beijing. Though small-scale experiments in local government have been tried, China, as Evan Osnos writes, is the only country where a Nobel Peace Prize winner is in jail, democracy advocate, Liu Xiaobao.

Last month, Indiana University opened an office in Beijing to expand student and scholarly programs in China. If it serves to promote the values of political, economic, and academic freedom to which IU subscribes, it will be a fitting way of honoring the sacrifices made a quarter century ago.

Sources:

Tiananmen protests

Internet usage

Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.

This case is a symptom of a bigger trend. A book by Benjamin Ginsberg at Johns Hopkins entitled “The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All Administrative Univeristy” details the relative loss of the power of the academic faculty and the rise of the power of academic administrators. The author asserts this phenomenon means academic standards must fall.

Why?

Professor Ginsberg points out that both faculty and administrators say that they support teaching and research.

HOWEVER, professors view teaching and research as ENDS and the university as the MEANS to that end.

Administrators view teaching and research as a MEANS to further the business of the university, as a means to attract corporate and government dollars and more students.

The faculty view focuses on what students NEED—not so much on what they WANT, assuming that faculty are better qualified than students to decide what students should learn.

The administrative view focuses on what students and others WANT in order to boost revenues.

What happened at North Carolina is a symptom of the rise of the All-Administrative University where administration thinks research should support the university instead of the university supporting research.

The rise of administrative power at the expense of the power of the faculty is a threat to academic freedom.