University President ‘Personally Offended’ By Anti-China Artwork

George Washington University (GWU) President Mark Wrighton said he was “personally offended” by anti-China posters found on campus and is working to have them removed, according to the artist whose work is featured in the posters, Badiucao.

“I treasure the opportunity to work with talented people from all over the world, including China,” Wrighton’s email read, according to Badiucao. “I, too, am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an effort to determine who is responsible.”

The posters in question show Badiucao’s Olympics-themed artwork, which features a snowboarder riding a surveillance camera, an Olympic shooter pointing his rifle at a blindfolded Uyghur Muslim and a curler sliding an animated coronavirus particle.

The school’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association sent out an email claiming the posters had “serious racist views” and carried out “extremely vicious personal attacks on all international students from China and Asian groups,” according to screenshots shared by Badiucao. The email also urged the school to “punish” those who hung up the posters “severely,” according to Badiucao.

A representative from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) said that students being punished for hanging the posters should reach out to FIRE for legal assistance.

The GWU president’s reaction to the posters comes amid criticism of the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in China due to the country’s human rights record, particularly its detainment of millions of Uyghur Muslims in forced labor camps and its early coverup of the coronavirus pandemic.

GWU and the school’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.