Four faculty members from Cornell University in Iowa who were teaching in China as part of a partnership with a local university were attacked in a “serious incident” in a public park, university officials said Monday.
Jonathan Brand, president of the private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, said in a statement that the lecturers were “severely injured” during a visit to a public park on Sunday. They were with faculty from Beihua University, a partner university in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin.
“We have been in contact with all four instructors and are supporting them during this time,” Brand said in a statement. No students are currently enrolled in the program, Brand said.
Details about the attack, including the instructors’ status and whether they were specifically targeted, remained unclear Monday. University spokeswoman Jen Visser said the university has been in contact with all of the instructors.
Visser said Beihua University officials have been in contact with Cornell’s coordinating staff, but it’s unclear what information was shared.
Visser declined to release any additional information about the attack.
The partnership between Cornell and Beihua University began in 2018, Visser said. According to a recent release from 2018, Beihua University provides funding for Cornell professors to travel to China and teach computer science, mathematics and physics for two weeks.
