An investigation by the Todai Shimbun newspaper has revealed that the keyword “June 4th Tiananmen Square” was temporarily embedded in the source code of the entrance exam information website for one department at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences (GSFS). The code, written between August and September last year, may have blocked access to the website from China until it was removed by the department in March. There is growing suspicion that this was an intentional act to hinder applications from Chinese students. If this is the case, it would be an act that runs counter to the respect for diversity and promotion of inclusiveness that UTokyo has been promoting.

The entry of keyword was confirmed using the Web Archiving Project (WARP) operated by the National Diet Library and the Wayback Machine, a website that archives online information. Some news media reported on this issue around 8 p.m. on December 6th.

The issue involved the entrance exam information page and English-language homepage of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences’ Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences. The keyword “June 4th Tiananmen Square” was embedded as a meta keyword (a term used to describe a webpage for search engines, not displayed directly on the page) in the source code. The keyword was added between August 12 and September 29 last year. (Photos 1 and 2) No content related to the Tiananmen Square incident was present on the affected pages. The application period for one of the two annual admissions exams in the department was included in that limit with the keyword in question.

The term “六四天安門” refers to the Tiananmen Square incident that occurred on June 4, 1989, in Beijing. Due to information control in China, websites containing terms related to the incident are said to be excluded from search results. Consequently, the webpage in question may have been temporarily inaccessible from China. There is suspicion that the inappropriate use of this keyword was intended to exclude prospective students from China.

UTokyo: “Extremely Regrettable”

According to the Public Relations Office at UTokyo Headquarters, UTokyo was informed of the issue in March and confirmed that the keyword had been embedded in the source code. The Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences subsequently removed the keyword and revamped its system to prevent the insertion of inappropriate keywords. As a temporary measure, regular source code checks will be conducted to prevent recurrence. The GSFS is currently investigating the circumstances under which the keyword was embedded.

In UTokyo Compass, introduced under President Fujii, the university aims to be a “a university that anyone in the world would want to join.” UTokyo also adopted the “Declaration of Diversity & Inclusion” in 2022 to promote respect for diversity and inclusivity. The Public Relations Office commented that if the intent was to block access from a specific country, this would be an inappropriate act in violation of UTokyo’s policy to welcome diverse students and faculty members from around the world, calling the incident extremely regrettable.

Past Case of Discriminatory Remarks Led to Dismissal

In 2019, Project Associate Professor Shohei Osawa (a special appointee in the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies) posted on Twitter that his company, Daisy, “does not hire Chinese people.” The incident caused controversy, prompting an unprecedented statement from the initiative, which apologizes for the “inappropriate” post. Osawa was dismissed in 2020 following disciplinary action.

The Todai Shimbun newspaper seeks to amplify the voices of diverse stakeholders and hopes to contribute to a deeper understanding of the diversity that should be upheld within the university. We welcome your opinions on this issue through this online form.

Additionally, we are conducting our own investigation into this matter. Please consider providing information through this link.