RH MD Presidential Proclamation 10043

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE
BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ
Robert Horwitz Chair of the Assembly of the Academic Senate

Telephone: (510) 987-0887 Faculty Representative to the Regents
Email:[email protected] University of California
1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor
Oakland, California 94607-5200
December 21, 2021
MICHAEL DRAKE, PRESIDENT

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Re: Statement of Concern Regarding Presidential Proclamation 10043
Dear President Drake:
At its December 2021 meeting, the Academic Council endorsed the attached letter from the
University Committee on International Education (UCIE) asking the University to voice concerns
about Presidential Proclamation 10043 (Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students
and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC)).
Presidential Proclamation 10043 allows the US Department of State to deny new F or J visa
applications or revoke existing visas from Chinese graduate students and researchers who
previously studied or conducted research at Chinese universities that support PRC military
initiatives or its military-civil fusion strategy. The State Department policy is described as seeking
to protect against intellectual espionage and the military application in China of US technologies.
Council understands that national security concerns about the PRC and intellectual espionage
activities may be legitimate. A number of UC faculty are wary of the PRC government’s national
military-civil fusion strategy, its repressive changes in Hong Kong, and stepped-up military
activities along the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, the Senate believes that the policy is far too
blunt of an instrument. It is having a chilling effect on some faculty and graduate students and, more
broadly, on the culture of openness at UC. Council thus joins UCIE in opposing Presidential
Proclamation 10043 as misguided, discriminatory, and harmful to the University of California.
We are especially concerned that the implementation of the policy is targeting students and
researchers who have nothing to do with military defense technologies, and enabling the US
government to base visa decisions on national origin, rather than any specific, targeted evidence of
malfeasance or intent to do harm. Council is concerned that the policy is stifling the free exchange
of ideas, inhibiting science and technology research, and creating a “brain drain” by encouraging
the best Chinese scholars to choose other countries over the US for their training experiences. We
worry that the policy may also spread fear among UC faculty and graduate students of Chinese (and
other national) origin that they will be targeted based on their national origin alone. Finally, the
policy may impair productive US-China relations and have reciprocal consequences for US students
and researchers seeking academic and research connections in China.
We urge the University to use its influence and connections in the federal government to voice
concerns and push back on this policy in its current form in the strongest terms. Please do not
hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Robert Horwitz, Chair

Academic Council
Cc: Academic Council
Provost Brown
Chief of Staff Kao
Chief Policy Advisor McAuliffe
Senate Directors
Encl.
2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
BERKELEY  DAVIS  IRVINE  LOS ANGELES  MERCED  RIVERSIDE  SAN DIEGO  SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA  SANTA CRUZ
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (UCIE) The Assembly of the

Julian Schroeder, Chair Academic Senate
[email protected] 1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Phone: (510) 987-9467
December 3, 2021
ACADEMIC COUNCIL CHAIR ROBERT HORWITZ
Dear Chair Horwitz,
At its October 15 meeting, the University Committee on International Education (UCIE)

discussed Presidential Proclamation 10043, “Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of
Certain Students and Researchers from the People's Republic of China.” The UCIE
committee asks that the Council review the attached statement and – it is hoped – forward its
concerns to President Drake. In the following is some background describing concerns of
UCIE with more details provided in the attached statement from UCIE.
The Proclamation was issued in June 2020, and applies to existing and new visas. Because of
the COVID-19 pandemic, new visas were largely not being processed at that time. Now that
consulates have reopened in China, and international students are beginning to see visa
processing resume, there have been concerning reports of this Proclamation being applied
very broadly.
Many members of UCIE are concerned that this Proclamation is leading to the profiling of
scholars of Chinese and Chinese-American descent. A majority of the committee feels that
students and researchers from the People’s Republic of China help fuel the critically
important industrial and scientific engines of discovery and innovation at US institutions. It
asks that the Council lend its voice to the effects of PP 10043 on the University’s education
mission and its history of strong international collaboration.
It is important to note – that out of 11 committee members – three were not in support of this
statement. Here is a sample comment from one member:
“I am not convinced that the guidance provided about what constitutes "military-civil fusion" is
vague.
“As an inverse from what the letter says, while I agree that there is a concern regarding
discriminatory implementation, I am also concerned that without it the door is left open for
potentially damaging compromise of sensitive information.”
The two other dissenting votes were in agreement with these comments.
Several committee members supported the attached document, with statements including:
“Prestigious, comprehensive universities, such as Sichuan University and Sun Yat-sen University,
are on the U.S. watch list, suggesting the very broad reach of PP 10043 in implementation.”
Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you on this matter.
Sincerely,
Julian Schroeder
Chair, UCIE
cc: Susan Cochran, Academic Council Vice-Chair

Hilary Baxter, Academic Senate Executive Director
Michael LaBriola, Academic Senate Assistant Director
UCIE Members
Enclosures (1)
UCIE Concern Regarding Impact of Presidential Proclamation 10043 on UC Campuses
On behalf of the University Committee on International Education, we write to encourage the

University of California to voice its concern about Presidential Proclamation 10043. Presidential
Proclamation 10043 (hereafter PP 10043), otherwise known as the Proclamation on the
Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s
Republic of China (PRC), was announced on May 29, 2020, and went into effect on June 1,
2020. It is still in effect under the current administration in Washington, D.C. Under PP 10043,
the US Department of State may deny new visa applications from graduate students and
researchers affiliated with an entity in the PRC that implements or supports the PRC’s “military-
civil fusion strategy.” It also authorizes the revocation of J and F visas for continuing graduate
students and researchers at U.S. research institutions, including the University of California
campuses. Under PP10043, the term, “military-civil fusion strategy,” means actions by or at the
behest of the PRC to acquire and divert foreign technologies, specifically critical and emerging
technologies, to incorporate into and advance the PRC’s military capabilities.[1] A US
Department of State Fact Sheet indicated that the technologies that may be targeted include
quantum computing, big data, semiconductors, 5G, advanced nuclear technology, aerospace
technology, and artificial intelligence.[2] While we agree that there is a legitimate concern
regarding technological espionage, PP 10043 casts its net so broadly that it enables denials and
revocations that harm US interests. Students and researchers are often critically important
team members with rare expertise who help develop science and technology in the US. When
there is no espionage risk, these students and researchers from the PRC help fuel the critically
important industrial and scientific engines of discovery at US institutions. Moreover, these
individuals can learn about US values during their time in the US and bring those ideas back to
their home country, ultimately having a positive influence on US-PRC relations.
As explored in investigative reporting by Karin Fischer of the Chronicle of Higher Education (and
here), PP 10043 seems an extension of the China Initiative begun in 2018 under then-Attorney
General Jeffrey Sessions. UC Berkeley, along with a number of other research institutions
including Stanford and Princeton, have already registered concern about the profiling of
scholars of Chinese and Chinese-American descent. Denials and revocations based on weak
and/or unsubstantiated concerns about espionage do not make the US safer or stronger.
Instead, they weaken R&D efforts in the US, impair productive US-PRC relations, and have
collateral negative effects on US citizens of PRC ancestry in the US.
Although very hard to quantify because of the vague language used to deny visas under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Section 214(b), the UCLA International Student Office
has gathered anecdotal evidence suggesting that PP 10043 is playing a role in student visa
denials. (See also the letter dated June 10, 2021 from the American Council on Education).
We encourage the UC System as a whole to voice its concerns about the effects of PP 10043
and the China Initiative on legitimate education and international collaboration.
[1] Federal Register Vol. 85, No. 108 (Thursday, June 4, 2020) Presidential Documents. p. 1.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-06-04/pdf/2020-12217.pdf; accessed November 5, 2021.
[2] https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/What-is-MCF-One-Pager.pdf; accessed November

5, 2021.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE

Robert Horwitz Chair of the Assembly of the Academic Senate

December 21, 2021

MICHAEL DRAKE, PRESIDENT

Re: Statement of Concern Regarding Presidential Proclamation 10043

Dear President Drake:

Robert Horwitz, Chair

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (UCIE) The Assembly of the

ACADEMIC COUNCIL CHAIR ROBERT HORWITZ

Dear Chair Horwitz,

At its October 15 meeting, the University Committee on International Education (UCIE)

cc: Susan Cochran, Academic Council Vice-Chair

On behalf of the University Committee on International Education, we write to encourage the

[2] https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/What-is-MCF-One-Pager.pdf; accessed November

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