The Blind Lawyer vs. NYU

The odyssey of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese lawyer and activist, has taken an unhappy turn. A year after his escape from unlawful house arrest in a village in Shandong Province, Chen says New York University has asked him and his family to leave the campus because of pressure from the Chinese government—a charge that N.Y.U. strenuously denies. “The work of the Chinese Communists within academic circles in the United States is far greater than what people imagine,” Chen said in a statement released by his lawyers this week. How this case evolves will shape not only the fate of one of China’s boldest activists but also the way that a growing list of American universities and institutions relate to a country that plays an ever-larger role in how they see the future.