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The influx of foreign students into U.S. universities and the complementary flow of U.S. students studying abroad has enlivened ties to other countries for America, given students around the world experiences in other cultures and generally deepened understanding among nations.
But this exchange also has a shadowy side, and that's what Daniel Golden's book, Spy Schools, published in October by Henry Holt Company, seeks to illuminate.
The book devotes a chapter to Marietta College's relationship with the University of International Relations in Beijing. Nicknamed "school of spies" by the FBI, the Chinese university has had a formal student and faculty exchange agreement with Marietta College for more than 20 years.
Golden is careful to point out that many of the UIR students, according to his interviews and research, have little or no relationship with Chinese intelligence services, but the school, unlike other Chinese high education institutions, is funded by the country's Ministry of State Security.
Tom Perry, executive director of Marietta College's office of communications and brand management, was cited in the book as saying the college and the UIR continue to have a relationship as partner institutions and the college is "proud of the cultural diversity" created on campus by international students, including the Chinese.
Perry told the Times Thursday, "Our relationship with the UIR is anchored in academics. We value the cultural experience for those students as they learn and do this with one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.
"There's value that we provide and that they provide. There's no question it's been of benefit to both sides."
The college continues to enroll students from UIR and other parts of China, and the Marietta College faculty continues to teach at the UIR, "typically a summer program for one or two weeks or a month, the focus very much on what it's like running a liberal arts college."
Jacqueline Khorassani, director of the business and economic department and chair of the entrepreneurship program, is one of the faculty members who goes to China and is mentioned in the book.
"In general, I looked at it as an opportunity to teach in a different country," she said Thursday. "I've taught in Brazil, Ireland, China, and I don't alter courses or content, I teach what I teach, international economics, mostly theory of trade, foreign exchange, competitive advantage, with lots of applications and examples."
Khorassani said she felt no constraints or pressure to alter any of her course material in China.
"It was all academic, and people who know me know that I will not teach unless I have academic freedom," she said.
The enrollment of Chinese students at Marietta College peaked at 144 -- 10 percent of the total enrollment--in fall 2012 and has since dropped to 88 in the fall enrollment of 2015, according to Golden's research. Golden notes that the Chinese students were a significant source of revenue for the college, and the book suggests that the decline contributed to the college's financial problems over the past two years.
Perry said, "We've been recruiting students from China for decades. There have been up times and down times," and there is "no connection whatsoever" between the enrollment losses among those students and the college's revenue challenges.
Colleges touched on in Golden's book include Princeton, the University of South Florida, Harvard, MIT and numerous others as they were affected by programs undertaken by the FBI, the CIA and foreign governments. He documents numerous examples of the ways both domestic and foreign intelligence agencies have attempted to exploit institutes of higher education, their students and their faculties, both in the U.S. and abroad, to achieve policy objectives.
At a glance
¯ The book: Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities, Daniel Golden, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY
¯ The findings: Foreign and domestic intelligence services use universities to recruit agents and spy on one another's activities.
¯ The suggestion: Marietta College has been used by Chinese military security as a training ground for its college-age recruits to learn about American culture and as a source of information, through faculty sent to the Beijing university as visiting lecturers.