Duke School of Engineering: Our Bad, “Tibet Is Part of China.”

"Administrators have to apologize for making statements that the Chinese community does not like, simply because they are offended by the opposition voice of the one China principle."

In January, Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering sent an email announcing a “Lunar New Year Paint Night” event. The email read:

“The Lunar New year is a collection of holidays celebrated in culturally unique ways throughout Vietnam, Korea, China and Tibet.”

The next day, Pratt Engineering’s office of diversity sent an email apologizing to the school:

Frances Hui 許穎婷 #NoBeijing2022 @frances_hui

I am not sure which one is more incorrect & insensitive─ succumbing to a racist, genocidal regime, named the #CCP, or not educating yourself abt #Tibet & #China before you write to a student community that "Tibet is a part of China." @DukeEngineering @DukeU, shame on you.

“It has been brought to my attention that the language below written in the announcement for the Lunar New Year Paint Night was an incorrect and insensitive statement to the Chinese community and the government of China,” the email reads.

Campus Reform also obtained a copy of the email, whose sender was identified as Quaina M. Tyson, Pratt’s assistant director of DEI programs and initiatives.

On Twitter, pro-Democracy activist Frances Hui also pointed out that Tibet celebrates their new year, Losar, not the Lunar New Year.

Frances Hui 許穎婷 #NoBeijing2022 @frances_hui

@DukeEngineering @DukeU @SFTHQ @SaveTibetOrg @TheTibetNetwork @freetibetorg Oh, man @DukeU @DukeEngineering, I forgot to even mention, Tibetan celebrates their new year, Losar, not the Lunar New Year. Thank me later for "correcting your knowledge."

Hui told The College Fix that she received the email screenshot from a Tibetan student at Duke:

“This has happened in a lot of universities around the world of which teachers and administrators have to apologize for making statements that the Chinese community does not like, simply because they are offended by the opposition voice of the one China principle,” Hui told The Fix in an email Wednesday. “Most of the time, universities would apologize because they don’t want to sacrifice the Chinese majority student population and the big amount of tuition. In some cases, they have partnership with China or Chinese universities that they fear of harming, which explains why most of time they would compromise,” said Hui.

Duke has yet to respond to requests for comment from The College Fix, Campus Reform, or Sarah McLaughlin at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Sarah McLaughlin @sarahemclaugh

@Schneider_CM Can @DukeEngineering shed any light on this? Was this email sent?

Sarah McLaughlin @sarahemclaugh

still waiting…...

The College Fix also highlights a similar incident that took place at Syracuse University last week.