Florida Law Chills Chinese Student Recruitment

The panic among faculty at the University of Florida began this month once word started to spread: Do not make offers yet to graduate students from seven “countries of concern.”

Among the seven was China, the largest source of international students at Florida, a major research university, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The guidance stemmed from a new law that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, and state lawmakers said was designed to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from having influence at the state’s public institutions.

It remains unclear whether the law outright prohibits the University of Florida and other schools from hiring Chinese students. But the varying instructions given to professors in recent days have sowed uncertainty at the school, Florida’s flagship campus, just as admission committees are beginning to review graduate student applications for next year.