Asian American Scholar Forum Stands with 165+ Stanford Faculty in Opposing the Reinstatement of DOJ’s China Initiative, Urging Congress to Protect Asian American Scholars

Oct 8, 2024
Contact: Dawn Crawford, media@aasforum.org, 720-231-1930

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) today issued a strong statement of support for the open letter sent by Stanford University faculty to Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Democratic Leader Jeffries. We commend Stanford faculty for working to educate Congress on the harms of the China Initiative. The letter specifically calls for Congress to strike harmful language in the House CJS Report accompanying H.R. 9026 “Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025” that would mandate the Department of Justice to revive the program and firmly opposes any efforts to bring back the Initiative.

“We wrote the letter for several reasons,” said Peter F. Michelson, Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences, Professor of Physics at Stanford University, and AASF Fellow. “I remain concerned about the lingering impact of the DoJ’s China Initiative that was ended in February 2022. It has left a climate of lingering fear among many Chinese American colleagues. The China Initiative also discouraged applications to graduate school by Chinese students, particularly outstanding students. They now have many alternatives in other countries. As noted in our letter, there are studies “indicating that the United States is losing talent and that other OECD countries and China have surpassed the United States.” Reinstatement of a DoJ China Initiative will reinforce this harm.”

“The essential contributions of foreign scholars and students, especially from China, to the core research and educational missions of the great US universities cannot be overstated,” said Steven Allan Kivelson, Prabhu Goel Family Professor at Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and AASF Fellow. “At a personal level, I cherish the close and productive interactions I have with brilliant PhD students, post-docs, visiting scholars, and long-standing collaborators from around the world, many of Chinese origin. The China Initiative was significantly harmful to such collaborations, without having any clear positive implications for National Security issues. There are few policy matters that seem so clear cut to me as that the China Initiative should not be revived.”

Gisela Kusakawa, Executive Director of the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) said “The Asian American Scholar Forum proudly stands with the faculty at Stanford University in their efforts to prevent the reinstatement of the China Initiative, particularly with regards to the House CJS Report language that seeks to revive the China Initiative. This legislation not only poses a serious threat to U.S. scientific innovation but also would lead to the unjust scrutiny and targeting of Asian American scholars and professionals.

As the Stanford faculty rightfully points out, the China Initiative has inflicted lasting harm on Asian American scholars. It has fostered a hostile environment that discourages the recruitment and retention of international talent, while also alienating the Asian American community. Reinstating this initiative would further jeopardize the future of U.S. leadership in STEM fields, as it sends a message that talented professionals from Asian backgrounds—who have historically contributed significantly to U.S. innovation—are not welcome here.

The Asian American Scholar Forum is committed to ensuring that all scholars are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. We successfully led efforts with partners to remove language to reinstate the Initiative in the previous appropriations bill, and are deeply disappointed to see the language again this year. We continue to raise awareness through a Congressional briefing, a press conference, letters, and other efforts about the harms of any present and future effort to bring back this Initiative that threatens the livelihoods of Asian Americans and hurts the broader research and scholar community. We thank the Stanford faculty for lifting up their voices in solidarity with all those directly impacted and harmed by the Initiative.”

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Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) is a national nonprofit that promotes academic belonging, openness, freedom, and equality for all. In response to heightened anti-Asian sentiments and profiling in the U.S., AASF has been a leading national voice fighting for the rights of Asian American and immigrant scientists, researchers, and scholars. AASF membership includes members from the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, in addition to past and current university presidents, provosts, vice provosts, deans, associate deans, and past and current department chairs.