Jesus College plots overhaul of its China Centre

During the past two years Jesus College has been a regular in the newspaper headlines. The Cambridge University college was last month found to have accepted cash from a ‘very high risk’ Chinese university for research into China’s prime tool of foreign influence. It came after a string of stories which contrasted the willingness of Jesus to accept donations from controversial Chinese sources with its efforts to remove a historic memorial linked to the slave trade from its chapel.

Now though, it seems that the college has been moved to act. According to an email seen by The Spectator, ‘following a detailed review by a panel of Fellows, the college has today announced the restructure of the China Centre, including changing its name and funding model’. Sonita Alleyne, the Master of Jesus, told members of her college today that ‘misrepresentations about the China Centre have obscured the value of its excellent seminar programme’.