Members of Northwestern University Graduate Workers delivered a petition to University administration Thursday, demanding a public acknowledgement and apology for its treatment of late Feinberg Prof. Jane Wu, who died by suicide in 2024.
The delivery followed a teach-in on the history and treatment of Chinese scholars in U.S. academia led by Paola Zamperini, professor of Chinese literature and culture and director of Gender and Sexuality Studies.
The National Institutes of Health investigated Wu starting in 2019 based on alleged ties with the Chinese government.
In 2020, NU prevented Wu from completing further research grant applications and began redistributing grants for her ongoing projects. The University then withdrew lab space and removed members of her research team.
First-year doctoral student in interdisciplinary biology Defne Bish is the chair of NUGW’s International and Immigrant Workers Working Group. She said she was motivated to take action after realizing she hadn’t previously heard about Wu’s case.
“It’s such a horrible thing that happened, and Northwestern is completely ignoring that it happened,” Bish said.
After the teach-in, NUGW members walked to the Rebecca Crown Center, where the union brought a collection of handwritten notes from students and a petition demanding an apology for the treatment of Wu, as well as for the implementation and enforcement of policies to protect scholars from racialized targeting.
Vice Provost for Administration and Chief of Staff Jake Julia received the petition and notes at the Crown Center.
“The reception wasn’t the point, necessarily,” Bish said. “I think the real point of this was bringing attention to it on campus.”
The teach-in and petition delivery were part of a larger effort by NUGW to raise awareness of the University’s treatment of Wu and the campus climate for international scholars.
When NUGW began the initiative, Bish said traction was slow due to the union’s limited campus presence as a result of member availability.
When a member proposed that the union paint The Rock in honor of Wu, for instance, Bish said most members “didn’t think it would be possible.”
“But we had enough volunteers that we made it happen, and I think that was a great way to bring visibility,” Bish said.
On Wednesday, NUGW members tabled in front of The Rock, which they had also painted. There, they informed passersby of the petition and allowed them to write notes to the University.
Bish added that the union’s petition received more than 200 signatures in the past week.
An international student and NUGW member, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the University, said the effort was an act of solidarity.
“If they could do this to a faculty member, they could do this to more precarious and less privileged members of our community, too,” she said.
Zamperini said she was immediately responsive when a graduate worker asked her to take part in Thursday’s event.
From the moment she heard about Wu’s suicide, she said she “felt we as Northwestern faculty needed to do something,” especially as she works “almost exclusively” with graduate students from “mainland China.”
During Thursday’s teach-in, Zamperini discussed laws and legal limitations on the flow of Chinese immigration, her experience as an immigrant in American academia and her sentiments on Wu’s case.
“If more faculty and more students at Northwestern really understood this history for Chinese immigrants and Chinese international students, they would be more responsive when something like what happened with Prof. Wu happens,” Zamperini said.
She said the union received messages from international workers sending thanks for helping them feel safe.
Another international member of NUGW, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the University, said Wu had accomplished “everything someone like me would hope to achieve in the future.”
“Even as a naturalized and prominent neuroscientist in the U.S. at such a prestigious university like Northwestern, it was not safe at all,” they said. “So to some extent, I feel fooled by the American dream.”
By delivering the petition, they said the union showed “there are people who know what happened” to Wu.
“Really horrific things keep happening, but then, people remain silent,” they said. “By showing up, we are sending the message that people care.”
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Bluesky: @lucaskubovchik.bsky.social
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