When Hong Kong's national security law went into effect in June 2020, critics warned that forcing the long-independent special administrative region into China's fold would winnow away at both legal free speech rights and hallowed cultural norms. Critics have been sadly vindicated: Police forces have raided the newsrooms of publications that are critical of China and arrested journalists; students and faculty report professors who criticize Beijing to tip lines; and plenty of people have fled their homes, seeking refuge overseas via the U.K.'s generous special visa policy. But the COVID-19 pandemic has forced these issues to transcend borders in unexpected ways, threatening academic freedom for those who chose to study in the U.S., too.
Early in 2020, for example, many American professors had to deal with a novel conundrum: Students from Hong Kong were sent back home, but still Zooming into their university classes in America. "I don't think people understand how… a speech rule in China suddenly becomes a speech issue in the United States. It's kind of jarring," Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's (FIRE) Sarah McLaughlin's tells Reason.
