The News
An executive order issued by Texas’ governor to “protect the state” from China and other “foreign adversary countries” would impose new restrictions and security requirements on public colleges, including potentially barring travel for faculty research and student recruitment to China.
The order, by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, could hobble academic engagement between Texas colleges and a country that remains a major source of international students and a critical research partner.
The Details
The directive was one of three released this week by Abbott focused on safeguarding state agencies, including higher-education institutions, from the influence of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.
It says that public employees cannot accept gifts from or travel in a professional capacity to countries included on a U.S. Department of Commerce list of foreign governments “engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States.” In addition to China, countries designated as foreign adversaries are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
Colleges and other agencies will also have to create policies for employees to report personal travel to such countries, including filing updates after returning from their trips.
The order would prohibit public colleges and agencies from entering into or renewing contracts with companies — or their holding companies or subsidiaries — that are owned or controlled by regulatory bodies in risky countries. (They can apply for one-time, one-year waivers if the good or service is necessary or can only be delivered by that contracting entity.) It would also mandate stricter background checks for public employees or contractors who work with critical infrastructure.
Several of the provisions apply specifically to higher education. One would require colleges to submit annual reports disclosing gifts and contacts from overseas sources to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Another would forbid faculty and staff members from taking part in talent-recruitment plans like China’s Thousand Talents program, which offers visiting appointments and research stipends to foreign scholars.
Although the order covers all countries designated as adversaries, public statements from the governor’s office have singled out China. “Our No. 1 priority is to protect Texans, including from espionage threats from the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies,” Abbott said in a press release.
The other orders direct state law-enforcement agencies to arrest people suspected of harassment or coercion on behalf of foreign governments and set up a task force to assess potential security threats, including cyberattacks.
On Thursday, Abbott also sent a letter to agencies, telling them to divest state funds from China.
The Backdrop
In his order “hardening” state agencies and colleges, Abbott cited ongoing concerns from public and national-security officials, including a recent congressional report that charged that research and academic partnerships between American and Chinese institutions have aided Chinese military and intelligence. Policymakers fear that the openness of higher education could be exploited by foreign governments interested in obtaining American research and intellectual property and could make colleges vulnerable to influence from bad actors abroad.
Lawmakers in Washington have restricted federal grant recipients from taking part in foreign-talent plans; cut off defense-research funds from colleges that host Confucius Institutes, the Chinese-government-sponsored language and cultural centers; and tightened disclosure rules for gifts and contracts from abroad. The Texas reporting requirements would be based on those at the federal level.
During his first term, President-elect Donald J. Trump took a hawkish stance on China, and many expect he will revive the China Initiative, the federal investigation of academic and economic espionage with China, when he returns to office.
Texas isn’t the first state to take actions to get tough with China. Florida has also passed laws mandating public colleges to report foreign funding and restricting research and partnerships with “countries of concern.”
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, state officials and higher-education governing bodies across the country moved to sever academic ties. The Texas A&M University system ordered its campuses to “immediately dissolve” all agreements with Russia.
The Stakes
In written statements to The Chronicle, Texas A&M and other public colleges in the state said they were reviewing the executive order to assess its implications for their programs and operations and how to implement it. “We are committed to understanding the full scope of the directive to ensure compliance while continuing to fulfill our mission effectively,” said Shawn Lindsey, senior associate vice chancellor and associate vice president for strategic communications at the University of Houston.
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the impact of the order or higher-education-specific security concerns.
The fallout could potentially reverberate across campuses, affecting study abroad, collaborative research, and joint academic programs. It could make it more difficult to hire graduate students, postdocs, or visiting scholars from China and Iran, two majors sources of talent, especially in science and technology fields. While China has fallen behind India as the top sender of students to the United States, it remains a critical market for recruitment.
The order could have not only institutional impact but affect individual faculty members who travel to China for research, fieldwork, and professional conferences. Geopolitics, as well as domestic political tensions, have already made it more difficult for scholarship in and on China and Russia.
