AFP, SHANGHAIOne of China’s top universities has removed references to “freedom of thought” from its official charter, triggering a rare act of student defiance, while two other institutions have moved to strengthen their allegiance to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). A video circulated this week showed students at Shanghai’s Fudan University gathering to sing the school song — which extols “academic independence and freedom of thought” — in an apparent protest against the move. Fudan’s charter change was announced by the Chinese Ministry of Education on its Web site late on Tuesday and quickly became a hot topic on social media, with posts questioning the move before China’s online censors deleted posts and blocked discussion. He also called in a speech last year for Marxism to be promoted in campuses and classrooms. However, even Marxist students have faced a backlash, as police cracked down on some who supported a labor rights movement last year.
