A delegation of student government presidents from Ivy League universities, including Vincent Andrews, president of Cornell’s Student Assembly, traveled to China for a biannual student networking trip in August. However, the students did not encounter the open dialogue they had expected.
“It was truly an honor to be on this trip, and I was impressed by [everything],” Andrews said. “That being said, the only disappointment was the lack of opportunity to speak frankly with students … We weren’t able to truly establish a dialogue on the cultural divides between America and China.”
Two student forums were the only opportunities for delegates to communicate directly with Chinese college students. Both forums were recorded and supervised by government officials.
“The only [cultural] issue we could try to discuss was freedom of speech, but when we got to the issue, the answer was always avoided … When I tried to get some one-on-one with students after the forum, we were always rushed off to other appointments.”
Andrews said he realized this problem and discussed it with the rest of the Ivy student presidents with two days left in the trip.
Some students, like Diane Mokoro, a senior at Brown University and president of the university’s Undergraduate Council of Students, agreed that the group was taken by surprise and expected more interaction with Chinese students. But others took a more passive stance.
“The conversation we had was about why certain people [on the delegation] weren’t upset [about the lack of direct interaction] and why some were,” Mokoro said. “It wouldn’t be such big of a deal if we knew what was expected; [but] we didn’t receive the itinerary until two days before [our departure for China] and the itinerary did not have enough specifics on what we will be doing.”
The trip was organized by the Ivy Council, an independent student-run networking organization, and All-China Youth Federation, a national student organization operated by the Chinese government.
Melissa Im, a senior at Columbia University and president of the Ivy Council, explained that the purpose of the organization is connecting students, and trips like these are intended to expand the networking function overseas. Although the Ivy Council started as a body for conversation between Ivy League student governments, it has become independent and serves more of a networking function.
“That beginning purpose has transformed,” Im said. “Now we’re about students doing extraordinary things for other students, and we are a voluntary organization.”
Since the Ivy Council operates outside the student governments and lacks the full backing of each university, it becomes difficult when members have limited leverage with organizations, such as the All-China Youth Federation, which is government controlled.
“When [the Chinese] are inviting the Ivy League student government presidents, it is political in their minds. The student presidents are political in a sense, but [they] represent much more about campus life, about their policies, and about their universities.”
When pressed about why there was a misalignment between the expectations of the student presidents and the actual events of the trip, Im explained that they will make sure the process is more transparent in the future.
“We’re in a unique position [because] we’re just college students trying to connect with other international organizations,” Im said. “Especially with China, which opened up its doors to international conversations recently, we are well aware of the situation … [We] are in open and respectful dialogue about what we appreciate and [do] not appreciate about the trip.”
Benjamin Brinkopf, a senior at Harvard University and co-head delegate of Harvard’s Ivy Council chapter, echoed Im’s statements and reiterated that the All-China Youth Federation understand they are only a group of students and are not official representatives for the universities.
“[For this trip,] the delegates happen to be student government presidents, and you have to understand that they are coming on their own and it’s not an official visit.”
According to Brinkopf, the event is intended to help nurture inter-Ivy relationships.
“Before [the Ivy Council], people in student government were doing similar tasks, but had no communications,” Brinkopf said. “While we were able to talk about common [student government] issues with Chinese students, there was also a great degree of dialogue focused on the differences between our institutions.”
Andrews emphasized how much he learned about China during the trip and the importance of fostering a healthy relationship between China and the United States for the future.
“The most impressing part … was the modern image of what is still a developing nation. The Chinese people themselves were extremely modest,” Andrews said, “although [their country] became the second largest economy in the world shortly before our departure.”