Identity of Speakers
-
Badiucao
Unaffiliated
OtherBadiucao is a Chinese-Australian artist and activist whose political cartoons are critical of the Chinese government
-
Unknown Students
Student
OtherThe students responsible for displaying posters featuring Badiucao's cartoons on George Washington University's campus are currently unknown
Resources
Additional Information
-
Incident Nature:
Other
-
Incident Political Orientation:
Not Clear -
Incident Responses:
Other
-
Incident Status:
No litigation
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
On February 3, 2022, posters featuring cartoons by the cartoonist-activist Badiucao appeared in buildings on George Washington University’s campus. The “Beijing 2022″ images included an ice skater gliding over the Hong Kong flag’s flower emblem, an athlete snowboarding atop a surveillance camera, and a curling team member throwing a coronavirus particle across the ice. After some student groups, including the Chinese Students and Scholars Association aired their demands for the posters to be removed, the students responsible for them punished, and a public apology to all Chinese students, the university’s interim president, Mark Wrighton, called the posters offensive and vowed to punish the students responsible. However, in the face of a backlash against his remarks from Badiucao, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and others, Wrighton reversed course a few days later, writing that his initial responses “were mistakes” and that the university would take no disciplinary action against the students who displayed the posters.
