Yale finds no govt interference in cancellation of Yale-NUS dissent module
Yale president says he is reassured of Yale-NUS College's strong commitment to academic freedom
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(Left) Yale University president Peter Salovey said members of the Yale Faculty Advisory Committee who have visited Yale-NUS College said they have found a healthy spirit of academic freedom and open inquiry there. (Centre) Yale’s vice-president and vice-provost for global strategy Pericles Lewis said the college had legitimate academic and legal reasons to cancel the module. (Right) The module, titled Dialogue and Dissent in Singapore, was to have been led by playwright, poet and short story writer Alfian Sa’at.
The decision to cancel a module on dissent at Yale-NUS College last month was made internally and without government interference in the college's academic independence, Yale University president Peter Salovey has said.
While a number of mostly administrative errors were made in the process of considering the module, the Yale Faculty Advisory Committee found that the evidence does not suggest any violations of academic freedom or open inquiry.
The module, titled Dialogue and Dissent in Singapore, was to have been led by Mr Alfian Sa'at, a local poet, playwright and short story writer known for his work which has explored topics of race, sexuality and politics.
The module he proposed was slated to be part of a Learning Across Boundaries programme at the college and was to have taken place last month and early this month.
But it was cancelled on Sept 13, about two weeks before it was due to begin, leading to questions being asked about academic freedom in Singapore. Professor Salovey expressed his concern to National University of Singapore president Tan Eng Chye and Yale-NUS president Tan Tai Yong, and asked Yale's vice-president and vice-provost for global strategy Pericles Lewis to find out the facts of the case.
Prof Lewis flew to Singapore in the week of Sept 16 and met more than 25 faculty members and college leaders, as well as Mr Alfian. He shared his findings with the Yale Faculty Advisory Committee on Yale-NUS College, and his report was made public on Sunday.
Prof Salovey said in a statement that members of the committee who have visited Yale-NUS College said they have found a healthy spirit of academic freedom and open inquiry at Yale-NUS College.
The report said the college had three main concerns about the module: Its academic rigour, the legal risk to students posed by the experiential component and the political balance of the syllabus.
It said several revisions were proposed by staff and students, including an inter-group dialogue to allow students to exchange views before taking part in an off-campus activity and a visit by a well-known sociologist. But the instructor "rejected all such revisions, thus contributing to concerns about whether he intended to offer critical engagement in the module", the report said.
The original syllabus had included designing protest signs and carrying them to Hong Lim Park, where only protests by Singapore citizens are permitted.
The Curriculum Committee chair emphasised that the committee did not think that engaging in activism was a legitimate credit-bearing activity, irrespective of whether the protests were legal or illegal.
The committee was also concerned that these activities would expose international students to sanctions for illegal participation in off-campus protests, the report said. Nine of the 16 students assigned to the module were international students.
Mr Alfian later suggested that these were "simulations" of political protests, the report said. In a later version of his proposal, he separated the sign-making workshop from the visit to Hong Lim Park, but continued to speak of "simulating" protests at the park.
The faculty felt the proposal sacrificed academic rigour to "emotive" activism. Members of the Curriculum Committee also felt that the module did not propose to study activism so much as to engage in it.
Prof Lewis said that the college had legitimate academic and legal reasons to cancel the module, but added that the Curriculum Committee should have been involved more continuously. He said the legal risk assessment should have been done sooner, and the instructor should have been given a clearer explanation sooner of the inadequacy of the materials he submitted.
However, Prof Lewis said he did not find the concern that the module was politically unbalanced to be a convincing reason in itself to cancel a module. He said Yale-NUS courses offer a wide range of perspectives, and noted that the college has offered talks by many of the speakers proposed and has also held screenings of some of the proposed films.
Prof Salovey said that after reviewing the report, he is reassured of Yale-NUS' strong commitment to academic freedom.
"I am proud of Yale's involvement with Yale-NUS and would like to express my confidence in its faculty and leadership," he said.
Timeline of events
March: Junior staff at Yale-NUS College's Centre for International and Professional Experience (CIPE) approach Mr Alfian Sa'at about offering a module for the Learning Across Boundaries (LAB) programme in September and October, which the CIPE is in charge of.
Mr Alfian had been hired by the college for a single semester as part of a rotating programme of artists in residence and was offering a course on playwriting as a visiting faculty member. Under the contract, his last day of employment at Yale-NUS was May 31.
May 28: Mr Alfian submits a proposal for the module, originally called "Dissent and Resistance in Singapore", to Yale-NUS College.
May 31: Conditional approval is given by the Curriculum Committee, contingent on substantial revisions. The committee notes that a planned "simulation" of a protest in Hong Lim Park might pose legal risks to students.
Aug 1: CIPE staff meet Mr Alfian, but remain concerned that he had not made the revisions requested by the Curriculum Committee.
Aug 13: An agreement is reached to change the title to "Dialogue and Dissent in Singapore", but not on the content or specific activities in the module.
Aug 14: The module is announced despite its incomplete nature. This was an "administrative error", Yale's vice-president and vice-provost for global strategy Pericles Lewis said in the report. Students begin signing up for the module.
Aug 15: The CIPE's vice-president seeks legal advice from outside counsel and concludes that participating in any organised activities at Hong Lim Park might entail legal risks for international students. Aug 19: Students are allocated to the module.
Sept 11: Concerns about the legal risks of the module are raised to senior leadership at Yale-NUS. Staff reach out to Mr Alfian to request another meeting, but he says he is leaving town and cannot meet for another week.
Sept 12: Yale-NUS staff tell Prof Lewis they will consult internally about the decision and that it will be a decision made on academic criteria and their assessment of its legal risks to students.
At a meeting with leaders of other relevant units that day, members of the Curriculum Committee say the revised proposals submitted on Aug 13 and Sept 5 had not met the conditions required by the committee for approval and that the course should not have been announced. Yale University president Peter Salovey later calls Yale-NUS president Tan Tai Yong to express his concerns, but Prof Tan says the college had already decided to cancel the module.
Sept 13: Yale-NUS College announces the module's cancellation. Prof Salovey asks Prof Lewis to conduct a fact-finding mission.
Sept 19-21: After flying to Singapore, Prof Lewis interviews Mr Alfian and senior leaders of the National University of Singapore and Yale-NUS, as well as members of the college's governing board, faculty and student government.
Sept 24: Prof Lewis shares his findings with members of the Yale Faculty Advisory Committee on Yale-NUS College in New Haven.
Sept 29: Prof Lewis releases his report.
