The much-anticipated China Trip to Fudan University was scheduled to take place this week, but the trip had to stay put.
“We were supposed to leave on Tuesday and return after a week from Thursday,” said Dr. David S. Blix, Associate Professor of Religion. “In my personal opinion it will not affect the relationship. I hesitate to make stereotypes but certainly a strong value in traditional Chinese culture is family and proper regard for family relationships and propriety and I think our colleagues at Fudan will certainly understand the importance of dealing with the unfortunate death of Johnny Smith.”
“Also as I understand it is the decision of the administration that the presence of President White here on campus to engage with on-going conversation with family and students and so forth and so on is a good idea,” added Professor Blix.
For certain reasons the Wabash community felt the trickle of disappointment, as what could have been a remarkable journey for the college was no longer happening. Professor Blix, one of the delegates for this important mission, has answered the questions that surfaced due to this decision.
“It’s provisionally cancelled and at this point we have no firm plans for the future,” Blix said, when asked whether the plan had been completely put to rest. He hinted that spring break could be a likely possibility with sufficient time for traveling, meeting alumni, sightseeing in Shanghai and also visiting Beijing.
“Now at this point it is completely unofficial, and it’s tentative,” he said. “It has been proposed by the Dean and he also have to work out the arrangements with Fudan and collogues at Fudan.”
To present a lucid picture, Professor Blix gave a succinct prelude to the development of interest in deepening the relationship with China.
“The ground work for the trip was laid last year,” he said. “President White and Dean Gary A. Phillips met some alumni and trustees who are very interested in seeing Wabash develop connections with East Asia and strengthening Wabash’s East Asian offerings.”
He also emphasized how Wabash has come to develop a strong connection with China and its culture over the years.
“One of the trustees has an associate who is an alumnus of Fudan University in Shanghai,” Blix said. “He began to make arrangements and there were, as I understand, emails and messages exchanged back and forth between Wabash and this alumnus and his colleges and eventually a connection is established with Fudan University.
The whole setup probably reached its pinnacle last semester and things reached a point where the next step was to send an official delegation from the college to Fudan. That delegation consisted of President White and his wife, Chris, Dean Gary A. Phillips and his wife, Alice, Dean Joe Emnick who is the Dean of advancement, and then two faculty, Professor Widdows, Associate Professor Economics and Department chair and Professor Blix himself.
“We were hoping to setup some exchange programs whereby Wabash students could possibly go to Fudan, Wabash faculty could go to Fudan maybe not during the school year but at least during the summer,” Blix said.
“And hopefully some faculty from Fudan could come to Wabash at various points. We have several areas of the college where there is a strong interest in working with China. There are courses in Econ department and I teach Chinese religion and philosophy myself.”
The trip still remains under the guidance of doubt. However, Dr. Blix wants the entire college community to know that, “there is a very strong commitment to making the trip.”