May 06, 2014 10:02 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Professors at the University of Chicago are demanding the school to discontinue a Chinese government-affiliated organization, Campus Reform reported.

In September 2009, the university entered into a contract with Hanban -also known as the Confucius Institute Headquarters - without prior consent or approval from the school's Council of the Faculty Senate "despite the Council having jurisdiction over decisions regarding teaching responsibilities," Campus Reform reported.

Hanban bills itself as "committed to providing Chinese language and cultural resources and services worldwide" as a product of the Chinese Ministry of Education, according to the public institution's Website.

Hanban partners with Renmin University of China, otherwise known as the Chinese People's University.  It touts itself as the "national comprehensive research university" directly under the Ministry of Education and Beijing.

"Among the problems posed by Hanban's control of the hiring and training of teachers is that it thus subjects the University's academic program to the political constraints on free speech and beliefs that are specific to the People's Republic of China," states the petition provided to Campus Reform.

Bruce Lincoln, a distinguished service professor of the history of religions and one of the organizers of the petition, told Campus Reform that  Hanban adds to the growing corporatization of the University of CHicago, "which has been making too many financial decisions while forgoing academic values."

"This is more politically motivated than censorship," Lincoln said. "But any self-respecting university shouldn't promote that."

More than 100 faculty members at the university are concerned about Hanban's ultimate control over the program. The organization provides professors, teaching resources and textbooks, "even going so far as to paying the airfare for the professors they wish to send. However, the [University of Chicago] has declined to receive textbooks from Hanban" Campus Reform reported.

Hanban's five-year contract with the school is up in September.

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