COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — The University of Maryland has announced that federal legislation passed last year has caused it to end a Chinese government-approved program that, if continued, could've jeopardized access to important funding.
President Wallace Loh wrote in a letter that the university will be terminating its Confucius Institute program at the end of the academic year.
The Baltimore Sun reports the program teaches the Chinese language through an agreement with the country's government and provides teachers to local schools.
Loh cited rising geo-political tensions and explained that in 2018, Congress signed a law preventing organizations with a Confucius Institute “from participating in certain federally funded programs."
