
Support Indiana University Professor Xiaofeng Wang
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Some of you know me. Many of you do not. But I want to thank you for taking the time to hear my plea. I was born in Indiana, and for my entire life, I have been a proud Hoosier. This country is all that I have known and I grew up believing in the U.S. justice system. Recently, my family and my world were turned upside down and I want to urge you, all of you, to help with my family’s fight for justice.
As many of you know, my father was terminated from his tenured position at Indiana University. Nearly three decades ago, my father traveled across the ocean and settled down in a small town in southern Indiana to pursue his dream. In these past two decades, my father would call this small town home, and build both his family and his career here. However, this dream was quickly ripped to shreds in just the past few months.
The over twenty years of work my father had dedicated to the university were wiped out. I grew up admiring my father. My father is not only an excellent scientist, but has served his community. My father was the Associate Dean for Research and a James H. Rudy Professor of Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering Indiana University at Bloomington and an ACM, IEEE and AAAS Fellow. His work has been critical to advancing AI and data science in our country. You can see his bio here: https://wangxiaofeng7.github.io/
Indiana University terminated both my father and my mother (who has no knowledge of my father’s research) without any explanation or due process and the FBI raided our home, tore through our possessions, and crushed the dream that my father worked so hard to build.
These months left us traumatized and confused. We are struggling to comprehend what we have done to be treated as criminals by the country which my parents have contributed to for nearly three decades. With both of my parents unemployed and Indiana University having no explanation for their termination, we have begun to face financial challenges, particularly with heavy legal expenses and even more uncertain costs ahead.
In the hardest time of our lives, we are grateful that the scholar, scientific & research community have expressed serious concern about my parents’ treatment by the university, and the current environment that all scholars, scientists, and researchers face, particularly those of Chinese descent. (See letter supported by hundreds for additional context: AASF Open Letter for Supporting Professor XiaoFeng Wang )
My parents came to the United States 26 years ago to pursue their dream and start a family here. We still believe in that and are determined to fight for my father’s innocence and for the broader academic and research community. We understand that this fight impacts more than just my father, and the allegations against him could set a harmful precedent for the research community. We would appreciate any help. If we are fortunate enough to have any unused funds by the end of this long process, they will all be donated to charitable organizations to support scholars facing similar hardships.
Organizer
Luke Wang
Organizer
Bloomington, IN