CHINA-INTERNAL: STUDENT UNREST
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Plans to establish a Rhodes Scholarship type of in-residence elite academy called the Yenching Academy in the prestigious Peking University, is being opposed by students and faculty. People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, on July 11, quoted Peking University President Wang Enge as saying that details about the establishment of the Yenching Academy would be finalised only after discussions with students. Peking University students say the Yenching Academy will become a symbol of elite privilege, its 100 students will live on the school’s best plot of land, have the best teachers, and will have bright and spacious class and dorm rooms. One student said “They will be the privileged elite and all the other Peking University students will be second-class citizens.” Students have formed a “Jingyuan Small Group” to mobilise support. More than 160 students and staff signed up for a meeting with university planners on July 9, 2014, at which University President Wang Enge, made an appearance. A survey of more than 3,000 teachers and current and former students by the group found that 88.5 per cent of those surveyed opposed setting up the new school at Jingyuan Park.
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