I think this is an opportunity to raise the prominence of the issue. I wish Purdue had explicitly mentioned the Tiananmen Massacre in this notice. We should talk about it. Our diplomats should be applying pressure around Peng Shuai's status. I'd love to see a debate in Congress about our participation in the Olympics and what that says about our support of this regime.

I think it is better they didn't.

Students are not being (considered for) expelled for their views of the Tiananmen Massacre one way or another. Taking any stance on that, in this context, would muddy those waters and make Prudue look like it was doing a political purge.

The problem that produced the statement was harassment. Not political views.

Is saying the Tiananmen Massacre happened a political view?

I would think that a government machining gunning down peacefully assembled civilians and then running over the bodies with tanks, then shooting any doctors who attempted to help the wounded, wouldn't be politicized. That we can all agree it is deeply and unquestionably evil.

Yes, it would be very nice if we could all understand important things without misunderstandings based on personal biases or misinformation.

In the meantime, debating without harassing each other is the best way forward.

Something being a political view doesn't mean its not verifiable fact.

A debate has different facets - political or not political - fact or not fact - harassment or not harassment.

In this case the problem that needed to be addressed by Purdue was the harassment.

Students debating different understandings of Tiananmen Square (regardless of either sides merits) was not the issue that required intervention by university leadership.