The report does not know if MSU knowingly supports Chinese military propaganda, but the connection raises "questions about how U.S. universities assess institutional risk," according to the report. 

MSU disagrees, however. 

“While the university has not had an opportunity to review the entirety of the report that is the origin of this information, it does appear to contain inaccuracies and does not reflect the current work of Michigan State University,” MSU Spokesperson Amber McCann said. 

McCann did not specify what the inaccuracies in the reports were. 

The report honed on MSU’s relationship with the Communication University of China, a Beijing-based university with ties to China’s propaganda system.  

MSU and CUC established dual-degree master’s program in international digital advertising in 2019, Strategy Risk found.

The report also cited a 2022 agreement between MSU and CUC to cover travel and living expenses for MSU faculty teaching in Hainan, a small southern province of China. MSU agreed to transfer 10% of tuition it received from students studying in East Lansing to a CUC staff development fund, according to the report. 

The report describes CUC as being heavily involved in China’s propaganda, citing MSU’s public opinion research with Chinese military organizations.

One example: CUC's former party propaganda chief, Yang Yi, oversaw the MSU-CUC program and its laboratories. This connection created "a risk through proximity whereby institutions with overtly authoritarian purposes may access the expertise gained" from collaborating with MSU, according to the report. 

Another school, Shanghai Normal University, worked with MSU’s journalism and communications master’s program. The report cited SNU advertising coursework that has a “psychological, conceptual, and information warfare” section. 

“While there is an agreement between MSU and the CUC, the programs under that agreement through the College of Communication Arts and Sciences have never been active and there is no plan to execute the programs,” McCann said. “Furthermore, the agreement between MSU and the SNU for strategic communications programming through the College of Communication Arts and Sciences expired in 2022. MSU has no responsibility for course content advertised online by SNU.”

McCann didn't answer specific questions asked by The State News.

Sam Schulman, Strategy Risks’ director of research who oversaw the report, said they reached out to MSU for comment prior to the report’s publication, but didn't receive a response. 

CUC “is deeply embedded in China’s propaganda system,” Schulman said, adding that it “hosts major public opinion and media analysis laboratories.”

Schulman said the firm’s initial concentration wasn’t MSU. 

“We had found many schools with many different forms of connections to Chinese institutions, but what really caught our eye about MSU in particular was a connection to a propaganda-linked body in China,” Schulman said. 

When asked who funded the report, Schulman said Strategy Risks is a for-profit organization and therefore does not disclose its research funders.

Strategy Risks also examined Duke Kunshan University, a joint campus of Duke University and Chinese partners. The report said Duke Kunshan reportedly does not have a Communist Party branch and has maintained a reputation for greater academic freedom in its China operations — a large contrast from MSU’s connection.