A Nature editorial this week (456, 545-546; 2008, free to access online) describes how an online blogging war highlights the need for Chinese universities to fix their hiring policies.
The row broke out between Yi Rao, a neuroscientist and Peking University’s dean of life sciences, and Keming Cui, a plant biologist and professor emeritus.
Cui retired from Peking University four years ago but kept his laboratory there. This year he tried to have his associate professor formally take over the lab. Such transfers of power are common in China, but they are also criticized as a way for powerful professors to hold lab space beyond their tenure. Rao refused to acknowledge the transfer of authority. Instead he planned to drastically cut the lab’s size.
Rao, the first Peking University dean to be hired through an international search, says he wants to ensure that the university hires the best faculty members through appropriate evaluation. He also wants to ensure that qualified outsiders are considered and that an inbred academic system is avoided. Rao says that the associate professor will have a few years to prove himself before he is evaluated for promotion and to see whether he can keep the laboratory.
On 9 October, Cui began writing a string of entries in his blog, which became widely read when copied by other websites and the online bulletin boards of Peking University. Cui described Rao’s action as belittling his field of plant anatomy because it was not a ‘hot’ area. He made a stand for basic science. The blog drew some sympathetic comments from students, who copied it to more widely read student blogs. Rao, whose own blog normally gets about 2,000 hits per entry, immediately posted his defence, which picked up 10,000 hits.
After alleging that Rao was trying to cut off support for a discipline of science, Cui compared Rao’s efforts to the activities of Trofim Lysenko.
The situation is further confused by Peking University’s lack of clear guidelines on how to proceed in such situations, leaving new regulations set against old customs. When Rao took over as dean in September 2007, the university made it clear in writing that such hiring decisions would be his to make.
Deans and university presidents in China are watching to see how the situation is resolved. Will Cui be able to raise public support and use his connections with senior colleagues to get his way? Or will Rao be able to stand his ground? The editorial concludes that Rao will (and should) win out.