An academic at Fudan University has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing and killing a Communist Party representative at the institution.

Wang Yongzhen, the secretary of the party committee overseeing the School of Mathematical Sciences, was assaulted on the campus of the prestigious century-old institution in Shanghai on 7 June. Public acts of violence are extremely rare in China, where firearms are banned.?

that an academic had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

In the Chinese university system, every level of bureaucracy ¨C from departments up to senior administration ¨C have both academic staff and a party representative.?Unconfirmed media reports claimed that the suspect was a statistician who had recently been dismissed from his job.

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According to the? party secretaries¡¯ roles on campus include leading ¡°ideological, political and moral education¡±.

Fudan has been embroiled in several controversies recently. A planned?branch campus in Hungary, which would cost the European nation several billion euros, has led to?protests.?

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In 2019, Fudan came under fire for deleting ¡°freedom of thought¡± from its charter, causing a rare student flash-mob protest. Traditionally, Fudan is known as one of China¡¯s more liberal institutions.

In 2013, a Fudan postgraduate murdered his roommate and was sentenced to death himself.

joyce.lau@timeshighereducation.com?