New College fires Chinese professors under controversial Florida law

The new University of Florida professor was suddenly fired this month under controversial state law that restricts the employment of public universities from employing people from so-called “countries of interest,” including China, Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

Kevin Wang, a Chinese scholar who seeks asylum and is permitted to work in the United States, had been teaching Chinese and cultural classes at a small liberal arts college in Sarasota for nearly two years, citing the school’s contract on March 12th and citing university regulations known as SB 846.

His filing letter, reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight, stated that the school’s decision to cancel his contract as an adjunct professor was “not based on fraud and does not constitute a dismissal for cause or disciplinary action.” Instead, the King’s immigrant status, and implicitly his country of origin, claimed that he had been disqualified for employment at New College.

His sudden expulsion sparked rage among his students, raising questions about academic freedom when crackdowns on foreign influences in Florida took place on statewide campuses.

It also marks the latest flashpoint for New College, a liberal arts school known for its former progressive student body after Gov. Ron DeSantis overhauled his leadership, established a political alliance on the council and appointed former Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran as president.

Since the acquisition, the university has drawn public scrutiny by demolishing its offices of diversity, dumping books and implementing new athletics programs. This is a dramatic change in identity that continues to ripple through campus life. The school also does not avoid bringing far-right figures to campus. President Donald Trump’s “border emperor” Tom Homan hosted the roundtable on March 20th that sparked the protest.

For the King, his firing carried an echo of political oppression that he fled in China, he told Suncoast Searchlight in an interview on campus this week. He also shared a letter explaining his thoughts on the subject in greater detail.

“Before I came to the US in May 2022, I was a university professor in China,” Wang wrote in a letter to Suncoast Searchlight. “Criticizing Xi Jinping and the CCP’s domestic and foreign policy has led to political crackdowns from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), resulting in the loss of my educational status and the freedom to teach, study and express myself in China.

“I never faced such a tragic experience after fleeing the persecution from China’s CCP, but I only encountered a somewhat similar situation,” said New College in the US.

The Wang asked Suncoast Searchlight to introduce him by his English name only because he was afraid of retaliation from the Chinese government.

The lawyers at the new university who signed Wang’s firing letter did not respond to a request for comment. The Florida Governor’s Committee and the Florida Department of Education did not answer questions about whether SB 846 would apply to asylum seekers in “countries of concern.”

The law, which came into effect on July 1, 2023 (three weeks before Wang was first offered a job at New College), states that schools cannot “accept or participate in contracts with foreign-based universities or universities of concern” without the express approval of the Governor’s Committee.

It also restricts state universities and universities from entering into partnerships with “foreign principals.” This means not only foreign government officials in those countries, but also “New Yorkers who reside in a foreign country with concern and are not US citizens or legal permanent residents.”

After SB 846 passed, the Florida Governor’s Commission on Governor’s, which oversees the state’s public universities, defined “a place of residence” as “a foreign presence with the intention to return it,” followed by its own guidance further defining “intention” as “as demonstrated by not seeking US citizenship.”

The King is the only asylum seeker identified by the Suncoast Searchlight, which was the target of the law.

“This is the first case I’ve heard of this,” said Helena Tezzelli, a Miami-based immigration lawyer. Tetzeli said Wang’s firing could be in compliance with SB 846, but the Florida law itself could contradict the non-discrimination clause in the Immigration Reform and Management Act of 1986. “It depends on whether the law ultimately depends on whether it is not permitted or not,” Tezzelli said.

The law was rageful across state universities as students and faculty accused the legislation of discriminatory discrimination.

The University of Florida Student Senate passed a resolution in February 2024, condemning measures on the impact on international graduate students who normally work as research or teaching assistants while earning their doctoral degrees. These resolutions called students are “essential to academic and scientific advancements.”

A month later, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chinese American Legal Defense Union filed lawsuits on behalf of a professor at the University of Florida and two Chinese students at Florida International University, claiming that SB 846 violated the Equality Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and contradicted federal employment and immigration laws.

The plaintiffs in the suit compared Florida law to the China Exclusion Act of 1882. This banned Chinese workers from moving to the United States during periods of widespread anti-Chinese racism.

It is unclear how many other academics have been fired since the passage of SB 846, or how laws restricting the pool of applicants applying for research positions in the Florida school system have affected academic brain drain from the state.

Agricultural economist and plaintiff in the suit, Zhengfei Guan argued that the passage of the law made it difficult to recruit and hire high-quality researchers and postdocs.

In a statement, Gisela Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholars Forum, wrote that the law “creates an adversarial atmosphere that prospective students and faculty want to avoid.”

In February, a federal magistrate recommended that US District Court Judge Jose Martinez be issued a restraining order temporarily suspending enforcement. Martinez is not based on this yet.

Routine email. Suddenly fired.

Early in the morning of March 10th, before New College’s Bayfront Campus was brought to life with the bustle of students, King sent out what appeared to be a routine administrative email.

He had not received his salary this semester, he wrote to the department chair. He then wondered when the situation would be resolved or whether there was anything that could be done to promote it. He ended the email with the conventional “thank you” and “having a lovely week” and wanted a simple fix.

But Wang’s message sparked a chain of internal communications that ended with his firing just two days later. According to Trove, an email from Wang and Suncoast Searchlight’s Trove, which was obtained through a request for public records to the school, he had no chance to say goodbye to the students.

“Ah, heaven! We’ll fix this,” replied Maribeth Clark, chairman of the Faculty of Humanities, about an hour and a half later.

Clark apparently is aware of what happened, but sent an email to Provost, apologizing for forgetting to submit the King’s employment contract form at the beginning of the January semester.

“We tried something different this year with a letter of offer of accessories that we cover all year round,” she wrote. “Then I realized in January that I needed to create an EAF for each semester. I missed this.”

Just before noon, Wang received an email from Erin Fisher, vice president of HR, digital learning and dual registration.

“As I looked into our records, I got a question in your file,” Fischer wrote. “Do you have legal permanent residence documents? If so, please provide them to us near business today.”

The king replied that afternoon that he had already submitted documents of his work permit.

“When I applied for this position, I required valid work approval in the US, but the immigration situation is currently being handled, but I am unsure when it will be completed,” he wrote. “I guarantee I’m legally in the US at this point.”

Rohrbacher was overwhelmed by noon the next day.

“I think this explains what happened,” Rohrbacher replied, writing that the king “legally hired, but when the country of concern died, no one came back and checked again.”

Realizing the situation, another professor of Chinese and culture reached out to Rohrbacher by email on the same day to express concern that Wang could be fired.

“If we have to stop teaching mid-semester, we all know how destructive it is. We should do our best to prevent it from happening for the sake of our students’ learning and happiness.”

Rohrbacher responded the next morning.

“Everyone wants to stay with Kevin,” he wrote. “The lawyers are trying to determine whether his reappointment violates the rules of the swamp “country of concern” so they have to see what they came up with. ”

A few hours later, the university informed the king that his contract had been cancelled and soon became effective.

“Around the same time, they closed my NCF account,” Wang told Suncoast Searchlight. “I can’t enter my emails and I can’t even say goodbye to my students.” Instead, he texted the students and sent an email from his personal account informing him that he had been rejected.

New College scrambled to fill the education gap left by King’s firing.

However, students in the humanities department were blinded by his dismissal, according to a request for public records from Wang students reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight and emails obtained through textbooks.

In an email to Rohrbacher, demanding a meeting between Wang students and the administrators of the new university, Clark, chairman of the Faculty of Humanities, wrote that the students expressed “high level of anger” over Wang’s removal.

Meanwhile, the king is preparing to leave Florida, but says he will remain in the US while pursuing a bid for exile. He’s upset about what happened, but he says he has to focus now on what’s coming next.

“As an aide, I don’t have much time or energy to dig deeper into this issue,” he wrote in a letter to Suncoast Searchlight.

The story was originally published by Suncoast Searchlight, a non-profit newsroom that provides investigative journalism to Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. For more information, please visit suncoastsearchlight.org.