A lingering challenge for American and British universities: Sinophobia

The coronavirus pandemic is impacting every aspect of normal life, including higher education. Colleges and universities have been pushed into uncertainty as they are impelled to transform to online-only courses while struggling with many other issues, particularly in terms of finances.

International students are also suffering from pandemic issues. One can witness the financial struggle of international students here at the University of Leeds in the UK, especially in terms of accommodations, rent, food and other expenses. Support offered by universities includes providing hardship funds for students in financial difficulty. Universities are also providing pastoral and mental health support. Yet this seems not to be a permanent solution.

As the universities frenziedly discuss whether they can safely reopen their campuses, even sending most students encouraging messages about the possibility of returning in the fall, Notre Dame in the US became one of the first major universities in the country to announce detailed plans for bringing back students, saying it would put in effect “a regimen of testing and contact tracing, put quarantine and isolation protocols in place and require students to maintain social distancing and wear masks in public.”

Even if universities reopen, will international students come to the UK and US? British universities fear that the loss of tens of thousands of Chinese students next year will lead to gaping holes in their budgets, after the survey by the British Council has found that only a quarter of those intending to study in the UK were still going ahead with their plans. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of Chinese students studying at British universities rose above 120,000 for the first time last year, up from 89,000 in 2014-15. Their tuition fees are a key source of income.

There is a challenge for Chinese students coming to Western universities: rising Sinophobia. My PhD thesis elaborated on Islamophobia in the university context. Having carried out research through interviews, it concluded that media exerts an enormous impact on the rise of Islamophobia on campus. Now is also the time to talk about the Sinophobia and racism that re-emerged with media coverage of the coronavirus. The excessive coverage evokes Sinophobia and racism that have real, harmful consequences for current and future Chinese and Asian students in universities.

In the early days of the US response to the pandemic, President Donald Trump incessantly labeled COVID19 “the Chinese virus.” “This language from the most powerful individual in the world was the most dangerous example of scapegoating for political purposes,” says Gordon H. Chang, a professor of American history at Stanford University. The Daily Columbian Spectator reported that “Chinese and Asian students have recently been the target of racist discrimination, including a hateful message in Butler Library – and the name tags of two Chinese students, which were affixed to a suite door to identify the residents living there, had been burned in late January in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.”

The global Sinophobia fueled by the media is of significant consequence. People use the coronavirus as an excuse to harass Asian university students and bully Asian children. Sinophobia killed a man in Australia, as bystanders refused to perform CPR, fearing that he might carry the disease.

Yinxuan Huang, a sociology research fellow at City University London who has been carrying out research among Chinese Christian communities in the UK during the coronavirus crisis, said: “Almost all incidents they reported were associated with ‘maskaphobia,’” which is a fear of masks which then triggered racist attacks. “Most of the victims – some got called ‘virus’ and others got shoved – were wearing masks when they were attacked.”

“Many Chinese students feel that the issue of the mask is the single biggest cultural shock they have ever experienced in the UK. They are now facing a dilemma and have to choose between two bad choices – insecurity (for coronavirus) and fear (for racism).”

Despite the fact that US lawmakers are encouraging major social media platforms – such as Facebook, Google and Twitter – to cooperate in promoting credible information about the virus outbreak, this seems to be ineffective. Universities and individual community members must also participate in efforts to curb misinformation and Sinophobia.

I loved learning about Chinese cuisine and banquets with my Chinese friends during my PhD time at the University of Leeds. I was infatuated with Asian hospitality and their contribution to academia here. The university holds a special Chinese New Year annual event. We, the international students, believe that the UK is a place that values tolerance, equality, diversity and rule of law.

The growing coronavirus-related racism is disturbing. As racial vilification will not end easily, American and British universities should consider taking measures to combat against Sinophobia on campuses and in dorms, as well as worrying about reopening and financial issues stemming from tuition fees.

The author is an independent journalist and lecturer at the University of Leeds.