In its May 13, 1983 issue, the journal Science published an article, “The Mysterious Expulsion of Steven Mosher,” about Stanford’s treatment of a PhD candidate who had published an article about China’s mandatory abortions and other abuse of pregnant women.
“Stanford’s anthropology department says it has its reasons,” ran the article’s subtitle, “but Mosher asserts he’s being muzzled for reporting unsavory truths about China.”
As his subsequent career attests, Mosher was not exactly muzzled by Stanford. His first book included findings of his PhD research, and he has published a steady stream of major work about China. But Stanford treated him badly.
In May 1981, an article written by Mosher appeared in a popular weekly magazine in Taiwan, detailing third-trimester abortions in a Chinese village where Mosher had conducted research. . . .
The article incensed the Chinese and further strained negotiations over the social science exchange program between the two countries. . . .
China’s meltdown over Mosher’s publication of the unpleasant facts of an aspect of Chinese oppression was enough to explain the Stanford anthropology department’s ouster of Mosher and refusal to give him the PhD degree that he had earned. But the article alludes to other purported sins that Stanford intimated were the real reason it had kicked him out. Science tells us that Stanford spent two years putting together an investigative report on Mosher’s alleged misconduct in China—a report that was never made public.
Especially in the context of Mosher’s track record, the torrent of abuse that Chinese government officials often unleash on those who make telling observations and criticisms of Chinese policy renders very plausible Mosher’s flat denial, quoted by Science, of any impropriety on his part. “This is a typical vilification campaign by the Chinese. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
At that time, Mosher was still considering legal action against Stanford for withholding his PhD. But he decided to drop the matter and just get on with his work, work that includes the books Broken Earth: The Rural Chinese (1984), Journey to the Forbidden China (1985), China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality (1990), A Mother’s Ordeal: One Woman’s Fight Against China’s One Child Policy (1993), Hegemon: China’s Plan to Dominate Asia and the World (2002), Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits (2008), Growing Chinese Power—to What End (with Chuck DeVore) (2012), China Attacks (2013), Bully of Asia: Why “China’s Dream” Is the New Threat to World Order (2017), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics (2022).
It’s not too late to do the right thing, Stanford. Give Mosher his degree, repudiate your appeasement of a totalitarian regime, and apologize to Steven Mosher.
