In China, Surge in Students Informing on Professors

Student informers are monitoring professors at Chinese universities, looking for signs of disloyalty to President Xi Jinping or the Chinese Communist Party, The New York Times reported. The use of student informers has surged under Xi. Hundreds of universities now use them. Professors and students reported at least a dozen instances since early last year in which professors have been fired or punished after students made reports against them. For example, one professor in central China was fired after a student reported her for criticizing the elimination of term limits by Xi, while a math professor in Beijing was suspended after a student reported she suggested that Japanese students worked harder than Chinese students. Professors say the student informers are creating a climate of fear in classrooms.