Chinese Students and Scholars Association

The Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (official name: Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association: United for China's Peaceful Rising) is a student club. It includes an "advisory board", which was, until recently, made up entirely of employees of a foreign nation's consulate. For that reason, the student club has been accused of being "an arm of the Chinese government" .

Recent events and efforts of the club have centered around clashes with members of Falun Gong and with other members of the Columbia community. In fact, of the 10 items posted under "Lives in NYC" on the CUCSSA website, 9 of these 10 are attacks on Falun Gong. . In short, the organization appears to be a CU-funded arm of the Chinese Consulate focused on anti-Falun Gong manifestoes. And, during breaks from reprinting implausible copy from the Chinese Consulate, white water rafting.

As of December, 2007, the CUCSSA appears to have revamped their web presence, possibly in realisation that the Cultural Revolution is over. They no longer identify themselves as "United for China's Peaceful Rising" (indeed, they appear to be in the middle of writing a new Constitution). Also gone are the dozens of pages of attacks on Falun Gong, replaced instead by exhortations to "[g]et started to outdoor activiety (sic) and enjoy all the fun" . Whether this is a genuine realisation that Mao is dead or just a Hundred Flowers-style trap to draw out imperialists and reactionaries into the open before they are served with peoples' justice to build a new motherland on the principles of socialist labour, peasants' rights, and resistance to foreigners and petty bourgeoise capitalism is yet to be seen.

Oddly enough, the CUCSSA's website appears to be blocked in mainland China. Who knows. Their antics have probably embarrassed the real Communist Party.

Legal Threat

On August 5, 2011, a bizarrely worded "legal threat" was sent to the administrator listserv of WikiCU. The threat is reproduced below:

From: [Redacted]
Date: Aug 5, 2011 Subject: Unreal information of CUCSSA (DELETE)

Hi,

This is [Redacted], the Vice-President of Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CUCSSA). I found this page http://www.wikicu.com/Chinese_Students_and_Scholars_Association in WikiCU. I and my friends are very angry, because all the description of CUCSSA is unreal and ridiculous.

You can find all information about CUCSSA by click our website http://www.cucssa.org

We sincerely hope you can delete all the unreal descriptions. And we reserve the right to legal proceedings.

Thanks so much.

Best,
[Redacted]

The threat had a few things wrong with it:

• The description of the CUCSSA circa 2006, with all respect to the "very angry" friends of the esteemed Vice-President (or is it "Vice People's Deputy"?) is not "unreal and ridiculous". It is fully documented, fully sourced, and in some cases, includes screenshots of the CUCSSA's antics. The only thing "ridiculous" is the behavior of the CUCSSA leadership.
• The threat to take "legal proceedings" is laughable and absurd.
  • First, for there to be "legal proceedings", there has to be "legal standing". In other words, CUCSSA must, as a plaintiff, prove injury that is "actual or imminent, distinct and palpable, not abstract". CUCSSA cannot prove injury.
  • Second, CUCSSA must prove that there is causation between the conduct subject to complaint and the injury. Assuming there is actually injury, CUCSSA cannot establish causality between the injury (probably reputation, etc.) and this WikiCU entry. It can easily be counterargued that CUCSSA's non-existent injury is a result of their own asshat actions, such as sending out implausible emails saying things like "sea of flags dyed by blood, to beat the cult's high spirit, to defend the reputation and dignity of the motherland!"
  • Third, CUCSSA must prove redressability. Since the causation link fails, CUCSSA must also convince the court that shutting down WikiCU will somehow prevent their own leadership from acting like asshats.
  • Fourth, CUCSSA cannot be a plaintiff because it is not a legal entity with corporate personhood. It is a unincorporated group under Columbia University, and cannot initiate legal action or be the target of initiated legal action, because in the eyes of the law, it does not exist.
  • Fifth, WikiCU cannot be a defendant because it is not a legal entity with corporate personhood. Likewise, in the eyes of the law, it does not exist.
  • Sixth, it is conceivable that individuals affiliated with CUCSSA could sue individuals affiliated with WikiCU. But that never work, because, to return to legal standing, plaintiffs are prohibited from third party standing, with exceptions made under next friend doctrine for the cases of "infant or mentally handicapped" plaintiffs, for which CUCSSA might possibly qualify.
• Finally, "we reserve the right to legal proceedings" is grammatically nonsensical. It should be "we reserve the right to take legal proceedings". Likewise, "I and my friends are very angry" is also wrong. It should be "my friends and I are very angry". Or "my friends and I are VERY ANGRY!!!!", you know, to show the angriness.

Overall, the CUCSSA performed rather poorly with this attempt to exercise Chinese-style censorship of Internet content. Even in China, the Ministry of Propaganda has come up with far more creative and subtle ways to "guide public opinion", e.g. the 50 Cent Party, essentially paid bloggers and commentators to continuously trot out the government line, at 50 Chinese cents per cost, to bury by sheer volume any deviations thereof.