A California university’s decision to have the Dalai Lama speak at this year’s commencement ceremony has sparked uproar among Chinese students who see the choice as an affront.
The University of California San Diego (UCSD) said it extended the invite to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in a bid to promote his message of “global responsibility and service to humanity.”
However, the San Diego chapter of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association and other groups have objected, denouncing the 81-year-old Nobel laureate as a separatist leader intent on dividing China.
“The Dalai Lama is not simply a religious person, but also a political exile who has long been engaged in splitting the motherland and destroying national unity,” the student association said in a statement.
In an op-ed for the school newspaper, The Guardian , Ruixuan Wang said the main reason Chinese students are upset. “is that our university shows little consideration about cultural respect, as he is a politically sensitive person in China.”
He added that many parents will be flying in from China to attend their children’s graduation in June and the Dalai Lama’s presence “will ruin our joy.”
The university said in a statement that it stood by its decision and there was no indication it planned to rescind the invite. “The University has always served as a forum for discussion and interaction on important public policy issues and respects the rights of individuals to agree or disagree,” the statement said.
