Zhihao Kong, a student at Purdue University, posted a letter online in 2020 commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Shortly after he received a call from his parents, back home in China, saying they had been contacted by China's Ministry of State Security—the department responsible for national intelligence and managing domestic dissidents. Kong's parents told him the Ministry officers said he needed to cease his activism or he and his family would face trouble with the Chinese government. Other Chinese students at Purdue then began harassing Kong and threatening to report him to the Chinese government for his activism, which could potentially endanger both his life and the lives of his family.

The students that harassed Kong must be expelled from Purdue University in accordance with Purdue Policy III.C.1 (Anti-Harassment). From an email sent to Purdue faculty, students, and staff on December 15, 2021, Purdue President Mitch Daniels has said "But joining the Purdue community requires acceptance of its rules and values, and no value is more central to our institution or to higher education generally than the freedom of inquiry and expression. Those seeking to deny those rights to others, let alone to collude with foreign governments in repressing them, will need to pursue their education elsewhere." Kong has had the courage to speak up for freedom; it's time for lovers of freedom to stand up for Kong. The identities of Kong's harassers need to be discovered and President Daniels needs to be held to his word. These students must not be allowed to continue to attend Purdue University.

Please see the following article for more information on the incident, from which much of the information above has been taken: https://www.propublica.org/article/even-on-us-campuses-china-cracks-down-on-students-who-speak-out