Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the State Department will begin aggressively revoking the visas of Chinese citizens studying at American universities, particularly those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in fields critical to national security.
This is terrible news for your local campus Maserati dealerships and Gucci stores. Not to mention the budget of nearly every major American university, including U-M, MSU, and most other Michigan colleges.
There are two ways to look at this development—one, within the auspices of national security. The other, as a broader pushback on the American university system selling itself out to foreigners for cash.
Rubio seems intent on framing it as a matter of security. He’s right to do so. Chinese students have been caught spying in the past, including recently in Michigan surveilling U.S. Army operations at Camp Grayling.
It seems obvious that among the thousands of Chinese students at American universities, some are spies. Active duty officers in the People’s Liberation Army, sent here to keep an eye on things and send back whatever research they can.
We can assume this without animus, even. It’s a good strategy. Can we blame the Chinese? If I was Xi Jinping, it’s exactly what I’d do. Exploit the naivete of your adversary and steal their lunch.
No, we can’t blame China, in the end. We can only blame the universities, who view the foreign spying question as an insult, or worse, as a racist affront. Sheltered from the world in cushy ivory towers, the academics claim it’s preposterous to suggest Chinese students might spy for their home country.
Beyond the spying, however, is an even more insidious issue. The proportion of foreign students at American universities has grown astronomically over the last few decades.
At U-M, 17% of the entire student body are foreign citizens. Among graduate students, foreign citizens are a full 34%. That’s not including the out-of-state students, either, as much as the local Michiganders may loathe all those kids from New Jersey.
These are high numbers, but not even close to the most severe in the country. Columbia University, for example, is 39% foreign. Carnegie Mellon, 42%. Harvard, the symbolic target of the Trump Administration’s vitriol, 26%.
When you break down those numbers further, roughly half of international students at American universities come from China.
Why are these numbers so high? Surely, even at our most paranoid, we can’t claim they’re all spies. Why are there so many Chinese students flocking to American universities?
There are two main reasons, neither of them having much to do with the quality of the education.
One, studying in America is considered highly socially prestigious in China. Rich Chinese parents, factory owners and party officials, send their children to study here as a status symbol. Xi Jinping’s own daughter went to Harvard.
For the most part, these aren’t poor refugees looking to better themselves. On the contrary, they pull up to class late in flashy sports cars, dressed head-to-toe in designer fits, smoking imported Chinese cigarettes. Spend an afternoon in Ann Arbor or East Lansing, and you’ll see them immediately.
Jay Ma, the son of China’s richest man, is a great example. He goes to college in Canada, but it’s the same phenomenon. He’s not really looking for a stellar education; he’s here for status, pulling up to campus in a fur coat and a Rolls Royce.
The second reason—international student tuition is a cash cow for the universities. U-M bills it the same as out-of-state students, for example. Over $55,000 just for tuition alone. Across the board, international tuition makes up an increasingly large chunk of university budgets.
Greed, pure and simple. The universities have grown fat on it, and it’s time to put them on a diet.
Bottom line: It is unconscionable for any American university that takes American tax dollars to put the needs of foreign citizens before those of domestic students.
Especially with tuition at such astounding rates, and admissions selectivity at an all-time high, it feels criminal to deny American students a chance at social advancement by allowing foreigners to cut the line.
That seems to be the idea, making this sort of thing illegal. The universities will hem and haw, but at the end of the day, the state department is responsible for issuing visas. Rubio could cancel the student visa program altogether if he wanted to.
Surely there are many foreign students who simply do wish to study here and advance in the American academic system. Mostly in the sciences, they do exist. They’re likely fine people, very smart and high-achieving, no doubt, even if a few are spies.
It’s still wrong to admit them in the place of American students. American universities taking taxpayer dollars should be serving our domestic interest, not just their own, and certainly not that of the Chinese Communist Party.
Bobby Mars is art director of Michigan Enjoyer. Follow him on X @bobby_on_mars.
