To: President Domenico Grasso, the University of Michigan Board of Regents, and the Office of International Affairs
We are writing to express our outrage at the University of Michigan’s active complicity in the federal government’s persecution of Chinese students and scholars. Far from merely remaining silent, university officials have cooperated with federal authorities in cases targeting Chinese researchers, helping to facilitate visa revocations and politically motivated investigations. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” and the University of Michigan has, in multiple cases, aided this racialized crackdown rather than defending its scholars. This climate has had devastating consequences.
Dr. Danhao Wang, an assistant research scientist, jumped from an upper floor of the G.G. Brown Building shortly after being targeted and questioned by federal authorities. His death, confirmed as a suicide, has raised urgent and unanswered questions about the role that institutional actions and pressures may have played.
His death took place within an environment where Chinese scholars at the University of Michigan have repeatedly been subjected to investigation, surveillance, detention, and deportation—often based on weak or unfounded allegations.
Recently, multiple Chinese postdoctoral researchers affiliated with the University of Michigan were targeted. Yunqing Jian, who was arrested for importing Fusarium graminearum, a common fungus, and Chengxuan Han, who was arrested for sending roundworms through the mail, have both since returned to China after federal prosecutors dismissed their cases. While these researchers may have mishandled laboratory protocols, the charges against them were wildly disproportionate, politically motivated, and clearly racialized. Their detentions caused severe disruption to their lives and careers, and underscore the dangers that Chinese scholars face in the U.S. when universities cooperate with government crackdowns.
In addition, three Chinese researchers at the University of Michigan—Xu Bai, Fengfan Zhang, and Zhiyong Zhang—were detained for over three months on accusations of smuggling hazardous biological materials. In reality, the materials involved were harmless laboratory organisms, including C. elegans nematodes and plasmids. Federal prosecutors abruptly dismissed all charges on February 5, 2026, and the researchers have since returned to China. Their detention highlights that these prosecutions had no genuine public-safety basis and were clearly politically motivated. The cases were part of a broader campaign to intimidate migrant scholars, pressure universities into policing international collaboration, and provide justification for escalating U.S.-China confrontation. Evidence shows that University of Michigan officials actively cooperated with federal agents, providing information and access that enabled these unjust detentions, demonstrating that the university was complicit in targeting them.
These cases are part of a years-long pattern of suspicion and surveillance targeting Chinese academics in the U.S. Under the now-defunct “China Initiative,” dozens of Chinese and Chinese American researchers were falsely accused of espionage, their careers destroyed by baseless investigations and racial profiling. In 2022, Jane Wu, a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern University, took her own life after being falsely accused of spying. Despite being cleared of all allegations, she was forced into a psychiatric facility, lost her lab, and was abandoned by her university. Her family is now suing Northwestern for the discrimination and institutional abuse that led to her death. Her story is a warning to all U.S. universities: silence or complicity in such persecution has deadly consequences.
Dr. Wang’s death is a profound tragedy that demands accountability. While the full circumstances remain unclear, it is undeniable that it occurred within a broader climate of pressure, fear, and institutional failure to protect vulnerable scholars.
The University of Michigan has a duty of care to its international students and researchers. That duty includes not only academic support, but protection from discrimination, unjust targeting, and psychological harm. So far, university leadership has not only failed to uphold this responsibility but has, in multiple cases, facilitated actions that put scholars at risk.
We, the undersigned, demand that the University of Michigan:
1. Publicly acknowledge and condemn its role in the unjust targeting of Chinese students and researchers.
2. Launch an independent, transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr. Danhao Wang’s death, including any university policies, communications, or cooperation with federal authorities that may have contributed to the conditions leading up to it.
3. Conduct a comprehensive review of university policies and practices related to international scholars, including cooperation with federal agencies, to ensure they do not enable discrimination or racial profiling.
4. Implement robust protections that limit cooperation with discriminatory investigations and safeguard the rights of international students and researchers.
5. Actively protect targeted scholars by providing legal assistance, clear guidance, and accessible, culturally competent mental health support.
6. Commit to full transparency and accountability in all cases involving international scholars.
Universities should be places of safe learning and international collaboration. If the University of Michigan continues to aid in the targeting of its own scholars, it will be remembered for its complicity in a shameful campaign of racism, fear, and escalation to war against China.
Protect your students and scholars!
For peace and justice,