After Gerber has read the e-mail in which his professor writes that there is no longer a care relationship, he desperately turns to his father. He contacts a lawyer. On the advice of his girlfriend, Oliver Gerber compiles a dossier with e-mails between him and his most important contact persons at the HSG the same evening. His lawyer will write several letters to the university management in the coming weeks.
After the first e-mail from his professor, Gerber still believed in a misunderstanding. The second e-mail leaves him desperately behind. After the first e-mail from his professor, Gerber still believed in a misunderstanding. The second e-mail leaves him desperately behind. Gerber's goal is that he can continue his studies at the HSG. But the university argues that the professor did not throw him out, but that he had long since been exmatriculated at his own request. In fact, from the autumn semester 2019, Gerber will only be enrolled at the Chinese university, not at the HSG. The manager of the doctoral programs at the HSG had advised him to do this. He wrote by e-mail that the maximum duration for the conclusion could not expire while Gerber is in China. Exmatriculation also leaves you every choice. Reimmatriculation is like a new application, but with the support of his professor this is not a problem.
Gerber follows this advice and temporarily exmatriculates in St. Gallen. The program manager writes: "A wise decision." Gerber will continue to be listed as a doctoral student on the university's website for the time being. The professor looks after him as before - until the complaint about his tweet. For example, she asks him to send an outline after a Skype meeting. On the 21. February 2020, a few weeks before she declares the care relationship to be non-existent, she writes: "It is great how well you have already made progress in China!"
Although Gerber can document all this, the university maintains its position in spring 2020 that he was no longer an HSG doctoral student than it broke because of his tweets. The ombudsman of the university does not want to deal with the case for this reason either. The HSG informs Gerber that he must apply completely new if he wants to continue his studies. And that he had to look for a new professor who would look after him.
The professor will only inform you which tweet the "excited mails from China" refer to and from whom they come at the request of the NZZ. She received a message from a Chinese doctoral student who is researching at a Canadian university. The e-mail is available to the NZZ, but the name of the sender has been blackened - according to the professor at the request of the author.
The author accuses Gerber of a racist attack on the Chinese people. It refers to a specific tweet: a cartoon that Gerber had posted in response to another user's tweet. It shows a comic character that has been modified and has stereotypical Chinese characteristics: yellow skin tone, slit eyes. In the spring of 2020, this drawing circulated on social media and was classified as racist by some users. Gerber says he shared the cartoon only because of its political statement. China's attitude to Taiwan and Hong Kong is addressed. In retrospect, I realize that I have questioned too little about the portrayal of the Chinese person.
The professor says she pointed out to Gerber that he can no longer pretend to be an HSG doctoral student on Twitter because he exmatriculated last year. This has absolutely nothing to do with the topics of China or censorship. It was an oversight that she wrote in the plural of "excited mails from China", even though she only received one e-mail - namely from Canada. She wanted to make it clear that further reactions could be expected. The phrase "then I would have to end the supervision relationship" referred to the informal consultation she provided "at the request of the doctoral student". The fact that Gerber was listed as such on the HSG website by the end of March is simply due to a failure.
The professor further explains that the relationship of trust was burdened because Gerber had "out of print" in a conversation a year earlier and explained to her that he no longer wanted to continue his doctorate at the HSG in any form and no longer needs her as a doctoral mother. Gerber denies this. He only considered striving once for a double degree from both universities. There is no indication of tensions in the e-mails between the two from 2019, which are available to the NZZ.
The professor writes about "excited mails from China". Later she says that only one person contacted her: a Chinese doctoral student from Canada. The professor writes about "excited mails from China". Later she says that only one person contacted her: a Chinese doctoral student from Canada. Whether the professor has received "excited mails from China", as she herself wrote, cannot be finally judged. However, China can also exert pressure with the policy of issuing visas. The professor's first mail clearly shows that she was afraid that she would no longer get a visa for China because of Gerber's tweets. This also explains how quickly she broke off the contact - despite the fact that Gerber immediately deactivated his Twitter profile. Were there additional economic interests involved? The HSG says that the professor's department has never received funds or other support from Chinese companies or other Chinese actors.
The afterplay
How does the HSG assess the case today? Vice President Ulrich Schmid says: "The HSG is unreservedly committed to freedom of teaching and research. However, freedom of research is in no way affected here, since these are private statements of the former doctoral student, which he has published via a social network." You can't comment on the tweets. But the fact that they obviously caused a lot of discussion and were perceived as racist justifies the professor's desire to distance herself clearly from it.
Schmid emphasizes that Gerber's care after exmatriculation was "purely voluntary" and had an "informal character". It is "good right" of the professor to terminate it at any time if the relationship of trust is disturbed. Furthermore, Gerber did not make a complete application for re-enrollment, but tried to force his rhyme enrollment.
In the early summer of 2020, Gerber decided to give up legal efforts. He says he did not complete the application for enrollment because he did not find a new supervisor: "There was no other professor in the same field where I could have finished writing my work. Changing the subject would have meant starting from scratch after three and a half years. That was out of the question for me."
Gerber has long considered whether he should make the case public. He hopes for a debate about how China influences Swiss universities.
Today Gerber says that having started tweeting was a mistake. The fact that he was able to lose three years of research as a result still leaves him stunned. Yes, he took a China-critical path and once shared a cartoon that he would no longer share today. But I didn't do anything wrong.
Gerber has given up his doctorate. He says: "I don't want to have to censor myself - certainly not in Switzerland". Meanwhile, he has found a job that has nothing to do with China.
After Gerber has read the e-mail in which his professor writes that there is no longer a care relationship, he desperately turns to his father. He contacts a lawyer. On the advice of his girlfriend, Oliver Gerber compiles a dossier with e-mails between him and his most important contact persons at the HSG the same evening. His lawyer will write several letters to the university management in the coming weeks.
After the first e-mail from his professor, Gerber still believed in a misunderstanding. The second e-mail leaves him desperately behind. After the first e-mail from his professor, Gerber still believed in a misunderstanding. The second e-mail leaves him desperately behind. Gerber's goal is that he can continue his studies at the HSG. But the university argues that the professor did not throw him out, but that he had long since been exmatriculated at his own request. In fact, from the autumn semester 2019, Gerber will only be enrolled at the Chinese university, not at the HSG. The manager of the doctoral programs at the HSG had advised him to do this. He wrote by e-mail that the maximum duration for the conclusion could not expire while Gerber is in China. Exmatriculation also leaves you every choice. Reimmatriculation is like a new application, but with the support of his professor this is not a problem.
Gerber follows this advice and temporarily exmatriculates in St. Gallen. The program manager writes: "A wise decision." Gerber will continue to be listed as a doctoral student on the university's website for the time being. The professor looks after him as before - until the complaint about his tweet. For example, she asks him to send an outline after a Skype meeting. On the 21. February 2020, a few weeks before she declares the care relationship to be non-existent, she writes: "It is great how well you have already made progress in China!"
Although Gerber can document all this, the university maintains its position in spring 2020 that he was no longer an HSG doctoral student than it broke because of his tweets. The ombudsman of the university does not want to deal with the case for this reason either. The HSG informs Gerber that he must apply completely new if he wants to continue his studies. And that he had to look for a new professor who would look after him.
The professor will only inform you which tweet the "excited mails from China" refer to and from whom they come at the request of the NZZ. She received a message from a Chinese doctoral student who is researching at a Canadian university. The e-mail is available to the NZZ, but the name of the sender has been blackened - according to the professor at the request of the author.
The author accuses Gerber of a racist attack on the Chinese people. It refers to a specific tweet: a cartoon that Gerber had posted in response to another user's tweet. It shows a comic character that has been modified and has stereotypical Chinese characteristics: yellow skin tone, slit eyes. In the spring of 2020, this drawing circulated on social media and was classified as racist by some users. Gerber says he shared the cartoon only because of its political statement. China's attitude to Taiwan and Hong Kong is addressed. In retrospect, I realize that I have questioned too little about the portrayal of the Chinese person.
The professor says she pointed out to Gerber that he can no longer pretend to be an HSG doctoral student on Twitter because he exmatriculated last year. This has absolutely nothing to do with the topics of China or censorship. It was an oversight that she wrote in the plural of "excited mails from China", even though she only received one e-mail - namely from Canada. She wanted to make it clear that further reactions could be expected. The phrase "then I would have to end the supervision relationship" referred to the informal consultation she provided "at the request of the doctoral student". The fact that Gerber was listed as such on the HSG website by the end of March is simply due to a failure.
The professor further explains that the relationship of trust was burdened because Gerber had "out of print" in a conversation a year earlier and explained to her that he no longer wanted to continue his doctorate at the HSG in any form and no longer needs her as a doctoral mother. Gerber denies this. He only considered striving once for a double degree from both universities. There is no indication of tensions in the e-mails between the two from 2019, which are available to the NZZ.
The professor writes about "excited mails from China". Later she says that only one person contacted her: a Chinese doctoral student from Canada. The professor writes about "excited mails from China". Later she says that only one person contacted her: a Chinese doctoral student from Canada. Whether the professor has received "excited mails from China", as she herself wrote, cannot be finally judged. However, China can also exert pressure with the policy of issuing visas. The professor's first mail clearly shows that she was afraid that she would no longer get a visa for China because of Gerber's tweets. This also explains how quickly she broke off the contact - despite the fact that Gerber immediately deactivated his Twitter profile. Were there additional economic interests involved? The HSG says that the professor's department has never received funds or other support from Chinese companies or other Chinese actors.
The afterplay
How does the HSG assess the case today? Vice President Ulrich Schmid says: "The HSG is unreservedly committed to freedom of teaching and research. However, freedom of research is in no way affected here, since these are private statements of the former doctoral student, which he has published via a social network." You can't comment on the tweets. But the fact that they obviously caused a lot of discussion and were perceived as racist justifies the professor's desire to distance herself clearly from it.
Schmid emphasizes that Gerber's care after exmatriculation was "purely voluntary" and had an "informal character". It is "good right" of the professor to terminate it at any time if the relationship of trust is disturbed. Furthermore, Gerber did not make a complete application for re-enrollment, but tried to force his rhyme enrollment.
In the early summer of 2020, Gerber decided to give up legal efforts. He says he did not complete the application for enrollment because he did not find a new supervisor: "There was no other professor in the same field where I could have finished writing my work. Changing the subject would have meant starting from scratch after three and a half years. That was out of the question for me."
Gerber has long considered whether he should make the case public. He hopes for a debate about how China influences Swiss universities.
Today Gerber says that having started tweeting was a mistake. The fact that he was able to lose three years of research as a result still leaves him stunned. Yes, he took a China-critical path and once shared a cartoon that he would no longer share today. But I didn't do anything wrong.
Gerber has given up his doctorate. He says: "I don't want to have to censor myself - certainly not in Switzerland". Meanwhile, he has found a job that has nothing to do with China.