New College fires Chinese professor under controversial Florida law

A New College of Florida professor was abruptly fired this month under a controversial state law that limits public universities from employing people from so-called “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

Kevin Wang, a Chinese academic who is seeking asylum and authorized to work in the United States, had been teaching Chinese language and culture classes at the small liberal arts college in Sarasota for nearly two years when, on March 12, the school terminated his contract, citing a university regulation based on that law, known as SB 846.

His letter of dismissal, which was reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight, stated that the school’s decision to cancel his contract as an adjunct professor was “not based on any misconduct and does not constitute a dismissal for cause or disciplinary action.” Instead, it claimed, Wang’s immigration status — and, implicitly, his country of origin — made him ineligible for employment at New College.

His sudden ouster has sparked outrage among his students and raises questions about academic freedom as Florida’s crackdown on foreign influence plays out on campuses across the state.

It also marks the latest flashpoint at New College, a liberal arts school once known for its progressive student body that has become a high-profile ideological battleground after Gov. Ron DeSantis overhauled its leadership, installing political allies on the board of trustees and appointing former Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran as president.

Since the takeover, the college has drawn national scrutiny for dismantling its diversity office, discarding books and implementing a new athletics program — a dramatic shift in identity that continues to ripple through campus life. The school also has not shied from bringing far-right figures to campus, hosting President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan for a roundtable talk that drew protests on March 20.

For Wang, his firing carried echoes of the political repression he fled in China, he told Suncoast Searchlight during an interview this week on campus. He also shared a letter that further elaborated his thoughts on the matter.

“Before coming to the United States in May 2022, I was a university professor in China,” Wang wrote in his letter for Suncoast Searchlight. “I faced political repression from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for criticizing Xi Jinping and the CCP’s domestic and foreign policies, resulting in the loss of my teaching position and my freedom to teach, research, and express myself in China.

“I never expected to face such a distressing experience after escaping persecution from the CCP in China, only to encounter a somewhat similar situation” at New College in the United States.

Wang asked Suncoast Searchlight to refer to him by his English name only due to fear of reprisals from the Chinese government.

The New College attorney who signed Wang’s letter of dismissal did not respond to a request for comment. The Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Department of Education did not respond to a question about whether SB 846 applies to asylum-seekers from “countries of concern.”

The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2023 — three weeks before Wang was first offered a job at New College — states that schools “may not accept any grant from or participate in any agreement with any college or university based in a foreign country of concern” without the express approval of the Board of Governors.

It also restricts state colleges and universities from entering into partnerships with “foreign principals” — meaning foreign government officials from those countries, but also “(a)ny person who is domiciled in a foreign country of concern and is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.”

After SB 846 passed, the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees public colleges and universities in the state, followed up with its own guidance defining “domicile” as “a physical presence in a foreign country of concern with an intent to return thereto” and further defining “intent” as being demonstrated by “an absence of seeking citizenship in the United States.”

Wang is the only asylum-seeker identified by Suncoast Searchlight who has been targeted by the law.

“This is the first case I’ve heard of this,” said Helena Tetzeli, a Miami-based immigration lawyer. Tetzeli said that while Wang’s firing may have been in compliance with SB 846, the Florida law itself could conflict with anti-discrimination provisions in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Whether Wang was fired improperly, Tetzeli said, “really depends on whether or not this law (is) ultimately found to be unconstitutional.”

The law was met with outrage across state public universities as students and faculty denounced the legislation as discriminatory.

The University of Florida Student Senate passed a resolution in February 2024 condemning the measure for its impact on international graduate students who typically work as research or teaching assistants while pursuing their doctoral degrees. The resolution called these students “integral to academic and scientific advancement.”

A month later, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of a University of Florida professor and two Chinese students at Florida International University, arguing that SB 846 violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and contradicts federal employment and immigration laws.

Plaintiffs in the suit compared Florida’s law to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. during a period of widespread anti-Chinese racism.

It is unclear how many other academics have been fired since the passage of SB 846 — or how the law, which limits the pool of applicants for research positions in the Florida school system, has impacted academic brain drain from the state.

Zhengfei Guan, an agricultural economist and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, argued that the law’s passage has made it harder for him to recruit and hire high-quality researchers and postdoctoral fellows.

In a statement, Gisela Kusakawa, the executive director of Asian American Scholar Forum, wrote that the law “creates an hostile atmosphere that prospective students and faculty will want to avoid.”

In February, a federal magistrate judge recommended that U.S. District Court Judge Jose Martinez issue an injunction to temporarily suspend the law’s enforcement. Martinez has not yet acted on this.

A routine email. A sudden dismissal.

Early on the morning of March 10, before New College’s bayfront campus stirred to life with the bustle of students, Wang sent what seemed like a routine administrative email.

He had not been receiving paychecks at all this semester, he wrote to his department chair. And he wondered when the situation would be resolved or if there was anything he could do to facilitate. He ended the email with a customary “thank you” and “have a nice week,” and hoped for a quick fix.

But Wang’s message set off a chain of internal correspondence that would end, just two days later, with his firing — and with no opportunity to say goodbye to his students, according to an interview with Wang and a trove of emails Suncoast Searchlight obtained through a public records request to the school.

“Oh, heavens! We will get this fixed,” replied Maribeth Clark, the chair of the Humanities Division, about an hour and a half later.

Clark, apparently realizing what happened, sent an email to the provost, David Rohrbacher, apologizing for having forgotten to submit an employment agreement form for Wang at the start of the semester in January.

“We tried something different this year with an offer letter for adjuncts that covered the whole year,” she wrote. “Then, in January, we realized that we needed to create EAFs for each semester. We just missed this one.”

Just before noon, Wang received an email from Erin Fisher, associate vice president of Human Resources, Digital Learning and Dual Enrollment.

“In going through our records, a question came up on your file,” Fisher wrote. “Do you have documentation of lawful permanent resident status? If so, please provide to us by close of business today.”

Wang replied that afternoon that he had already submitted documentation of his work authorization.

“When I applied for this position, I only required valid work authorization in the U.S. My immigration status is currently being processed, but I am uncertain when it will be completed,” he wrote. “I assure you that I am in the U.S. legally at this time.”

Rohrbacher weighed in at noon the next day.

“I think this explains what happened,” Rohrbacher replied, writing that Wang “was hired legally but when countries of concern was passed no one went back and checked again.”

Another professor of Chinese Language and Culture who was made aware of the situation reached out to Rohrbacher via email the same day to express her concerns that Wang might be fired.

“We all know how disruptive it would be if he had to stop teaching in the middle of the semester. We should try our best to prevent that from happening, for the sake of the students’ learning and well being,” wrote Jing Zhang, who also is New College’s director of International Studies.

Rohrbacher responded the next morning.

“Everyone wants Kevin to stay,” he wrote. “The lawyers are trying to determine whether his reappointment violates the BOG ‘countries of concern’ rule and we’ll have to see what they come up with.”

Hours later, the college informed Wang his contract had been canceled, effective immediately.

“Almost at the same time, they closed my NCF account,” Wang told Suncoast Searchlight. “I cannot get into my email and cannot even say goodbye to my students.” Instead, he texted his students and sent them an email from his personal account notifying them that he had been dismissed.

New College has scrambled to fill the teaching gap left by Wang’s dismissal.

But students in the Humanities Division were blindsided by his firing, according to emails obtained through the public records request and texts from Wang’s students that Suncoast Searchlight reviewed.

In an email to Rohrbacher requesting a meeting between Wang’s students and New College administrators, Clark, the chair of the humanities department, wrote that the students had expressed a “high level of anger” about Wang’s removal.

Wang, meanwhile, said he is preparing to leave Florida but that he will remain in the United States while pursuing his bid for asylum. Although he’s upset about what happened, he said, he must now focus on what comes next.

“As an adjunct, I do not have much time or energy to delve deeply into this matter,” he wrote in his letter to Suncoast Searchlight, “but I truly hope that such interference undermining academic freedom will not occur again in a place that claims to be a ‘beacon of democracy.‘”

This story was originally published by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom delivering investigative journalism to Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.