The Chinese government has removed the University of Calgary from its list of recommended schools and some speculate this is because of Dalai Lama’s visit to the institution last fall and him being awarded an honorary doctor of law from the institution.
“Previous newspaper reports on the issue had accurately identified the cause – The university’s interactions with the Dalai Lama,” said Donna Hou, from the Chinese consulate in Calgary in a Gauntlet News article.
“The Tibet issue is a sensitive one in Chinese foreign policy, and the Chinese government has always stood up against any indications of support towards the Tibetan separatists because the Communist Party of China and the majority of the Chinese population firmly believe that Tibet is and has always been part of China,” said Sally S. Ding, a fourth-year public affairs and policy management student at Carleton University from China.
“I personally believe this [honourary doctor of law] degree is supposed to be given to a person who does great things or contribute to the world, which, as a Chinese, I do not think Dalai Lama is,” added Baoyi Pan, a first-year international student at Carleton. “Also, I believe Chinese in general would be feeling the same way I feel.”
At an interview with The Gauntlet, Maureen Hibert, an assistant professor in the law and society program noted that China’s reaction to the Dalai Lama’s visit is no surprise when looking at the political tension between China and Tibet.
“The first being a simple sovereignty issue: China views Tibet as part of its territory and the Dalai Lama as a secessionist leader trying to take control of the country away from China,” she said.
According to The Herald, in April officials from the Chinese consulate in Calgary said they refused to have Dalai Lama on the campus and were against his receiving of an honorary degree. Although Dalai Lama ended up not going to the campus, he still received the degree.
In an interview with The Gauntlet, Colleen Turner, the spokeswoman of the university, said the university brings in many controversial figures from variety of political spectrum. Not giving a degree to Dalai Lama because of the fear of the controversial issues would be “go[ing] against some of the foundations and some of the fundamentals of a university and what makes a university.”
In the Vancouver Sun, she said “the decision to bring in the Dalai Lama was not intended to dishonor or disvalue our relationship with our Chinese partners or the Chinese community."
Removing the U of C from its list of recommended schools will not affect the Chinese students dramatically.
“It will not affect legitimacy of U of C degrees in China,” Hou said to The Gauntlet.
Also, removal from the accredited list would only interfere with convenience of Chinese national students applying to the U of C through Chinese Service Centre. Chinese students will still be eligible to apply to the university directly.
Yichun Xia, a student who came to Carleton to study communication said she did not make her decision to come here based on government recommendations.
“I came to Carleton only because I liked this university. I did not receive any government funding,” Yichun Xia said. “There was no government recommendation or support in choosing universities in any way. I only came to Carleton only because of its excellence in media studies and I like Ottawa.”