A lawsuit against NYU Shanghai has exposed some of the tensions — and limitations — of American universities operating in China.
Then-New York University president John Sexton and East China Normal University president Yu Lizhong pose for a photo at the ground-breaking ceremony for NYU Shanghai, March 2011. Credit: Visual China Group via Getty Images
When Matthew Belanger arrived in Shanghai during a record-breaking heatwave in the summer of 2013, it felt, he says, like the beginning of “a once in a lifetime experience.”
Belanger, an art professor, had just left his tenure-track position at the City University of New York to be one of the first faculty members at NYU Shanghai, New York University’s new venture in China and the first ever Sino-U.S. joint-venture research university. The new gig offered travel and adventure, but Belanger says he was also drawn to the opportunity “to participate in the development of a new university.”
NYU Shanghai, which was founded in partnership with East China Normal University, lived up to Belanger’s expectations. In the first few years, Belanger co-founded two art programs at the new school, drawing inspiration from his own experience as a graduate student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He was also on academic planning and curriculum committees, and he served
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