For the first time since the homes of computer science professor
Xiaofeng Wang
were raided by the FBI last month, Nianli Ma has spoken out publicly to question Indiana University’s decision to terminate both her and her husband Wang without due process.
The couple drew national attention after FBI agents searched their residences in Bloomington and Carmel, Indiana, and seized boxes of materials on March 28. Wang, a world-renowned researcher in cryptography, privacy and
cybersecurity
, was dismissed by the university that same day for allegedly failing to disclose a Chinese research grant from 2017.
Ma, a library systems analyst, had been fired a few days earlier without being given any reason, according to local media reports.
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These abrupt events devastated the family, Ma said on Monday during an online forum organised by the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) that drew hundreds of attendees. Ma said she had lost weight and now struggled to sleep.
“Every morning I wake up thinking it must have been a bad dream,” she said. “I just can’t understand how the university we dedicate over two decades of our lives to could treat us like this – without even telling us why or going through due process, especially for my husband, who is a tenured professor.”
Determined to fight back, Ma said their son Luke Zhang had launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for legal expenses.
Carl Weinberg, a teaching professor at Indiana University’s College of Arts and Sciences, told the South China Morning Post that tenured faculty members in the US were entitled to due process when facing termination.
“According to the rules at Indiana University, where Xiaofeng Wang had worked for 20 years, he was entitled to 10 days’ notice and a hearing before the faculty board of review. The administration at Indiana University has denied him these rights,” he said.
When Weinberg and other faculty members pressed the university for answers, they were told to direct their questions to the FBI.
“This is outrageous,” he said. “I was glad to hear Xiaofeng’s wife Nianli Ma, who was also fired with no reason given, to say that they are fighting this injustice.”
Gang Chen
, a mechanical engineer at MIT who was himself targeted under the
China Initiative
– a programme launched during US President Donald Trump’s first term with the stated aim of fighting economic espionage – told the webinar that Indiana University had “presumed guilt instead of innocence” in Wang’s case.
“Needless to say, the investigations have created huge fear among researchers of Chinese descent, from professors to students and postdocs,” he said.
Chen is among hundreds of signatories to an open letter drafted by AASF, calling on Indiana University leadership to reinstate Wang and grant him due process rights and the opportunity to defend himself.
During the online forum on Monday, Ma recalled how she and Wang moved to the United States 26 years ago to pursue their American dream.
“Every time I walk into my husband’s home office and see him proudly cover the walls and his shelves with the certificates and trophies of my son, I’m reminded of the loving home we have created and all the sweet moments we have had here,” she said.
Now, she said, they had become the latest victims of government search warrants and unfounded accusations of academic misconduct – an ordeal that echoed the trauma of the China Initiative. The programme ended up targeting many academics, most of them loyal Chinese-Americans and lawful immigrants.
“It hurts deeply that a country we trusted and contributed to for so long now treats us like criminals,” Ma said. “What have we done to deserve this? We’re just desperately seeking answers.”
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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