Dive Brief:

• The University of Chicago has suspended negotiations with the Chinese government over renewing its relationship with the China-funded Confucius Institute, which supports Chinese studies in 123 countries.
• In a statement, the university cited unspecified remarks by the director of the Chinese agency that oversees institute as its reason for suspending the talks.
• The director basically claimed in a state-backed Chinese newspaper article that university officials became “anxious” and conciliatory when she took a get-tough approach in the negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Dive Insight:

Because of questions about control of the hiring of teachers at the University of Chicago’s Confucius Institute, more than 100 University of Chicago professors had signed an April petition calling for it to close. The American Association of University Professors and the Canadian Association for University Teachers have also called for reforming or eliminating the institutes.