Chinese professors warn of ‘culture of fear’ in Florida after DeSantis’ hiring restrictions

After losing his top pick for a postdoctoral assistant to another college, University of Florida professor Zhengfei Guan knew who was to blame: Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Guan, a Chinese national with lawful permanent residence in Florida, and two Chinese Florida International University students filed a lawsuit last month looking to block a law that bans state universities from “agreements” with people from a “country of concern,” including China, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Russia, North Korea and Cuba. In practice, this has caused public universities to avoid hiring students from those countries for assistantships, the lawsuit alleges.

The law will have far-reaching effects on Florida’s higher education system, Guan and other critics warn, weakening the quality of research the university can produce and — in the words of another UF faculty member — creating a “culture of fear” among students and researchers who are from the targeted countries.

The policy is one plank of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ extensive campaign to limit China’s sway and investments in the state, with the governor often citing national security concerns surrounding the country’s influence in Florida business and politics.

When he signed the law, SB 846, last year, he said in a statement it was meant to combat “higher education subterfuge,” according to a news release. “We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China,” DeSantis said. When asked about the lawsuit, DeSantis spokesperson Julia Friedland specified his team still believes “the law is constitutional” and did not comment further. A spokesperson for Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., also a party in the suit, did not respond to a request for comment.

Guan says the law has stalled his agricultural economics research. Originally, he received 18 applicants for a graduate or postdoctoral assistant, and the best person for the job ended up being a Chinese applicant, he said. About a quarter of the candidates were from “countries of concern,” and all were international.

Because the law specifies that some exceptions can be made, he wanted to see if he could still hire his top pick. However, after four months of back and forth with the Board of Governors and unclear answers, Guan says the applicant chose a different university because of the law’s “discriminatory impact against individuals from China,” according to the lawsuit.

Guan said he initially thought the law would affect collaborations between China and Florida universities, but not his own work.

Now, after watching the Board of Governors drag their feet on approving his request for his candidate, he decided to sue. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, he may leave his post.

“My thought is this is not a place for me anymore,” Guan said.

As of now, he isn’t concerned about backlash from his employers. “It’s those who are doing wrong that should be worried, not me,” he said. The University of Florida is not a party in the case. A spokesperson for the university declined to comment.

Alongside Guan, Chinese Florida International University students Zhipeng Yin and Zhen Guo are also suing the state. Their assistantships and tuition waivers at the Miami campus’ doctorate programs were deferred and they are now paying out of pocket, according to the lawsuit.

The enforcement of the law has been uneven across the state’s university system, according to another Chinese UF faculty member, who was granted anonymity due to fears of retribution for speaking to the media. For UF in particular, the department administration is often confused about how the university intends to apply the law, the faculty member said. The professor said there has been little instruction from administrators on how to navigate the law, and university staff are uncertain what to tell current Chinese students with assistantships who are concerned about losing them.

The law has created a “culture of fear” among those on campus from the targeted countries, the faculty member said.

“It’s a rejection of my personal history,” the professor said. “I think it’s politically driven, rather than reality-driven. To raise the fear toward a non-existing adversary so that they can consolidate the power out of the fear.”

A second anonymous Chinese UF professor, similarly granted anonymity to protect their job security, told POLITICO that many of their Chinese coworkers have received emails from out-of-state universities looking to recruit them. After going through a full school year with the law in place, this professor expects the university to see a slow but steady exodus of faculty with heritage from countries of concern, especially China.

Guan’s attorney Clay Zhu said he believes the lawsuit makes a strong case for the law being discriminatory. He also said they will argue the state law overstepped due to overriding federal immigration laws that would’ve allowed the students’ employment. The American Civil Liberties Union is also backing the suit.

“We do not want 50 states to come up with their own foreign policies,” Zhu said. “This is a very dangerous precedent, and we’re trying to stop it.”