On August 26, 2020, the University of North Texas (UNT) announced that it has ended "its relationship with visiting scholars who receive funding from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, also known as the Chinese Scholarship Fund)." Access to UNT email, servers, and other materials, as well as the J-1 program under the U.S. Exchange Visit Program, were terminated immediately. In essence, the action expelled these scholars from the United States.

On August 31, 2020, Ling-Chi Wang, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, wrote a letter to UNT to express "shock and profound concern" over the sudden expulsion of students from the university and the U.S. "In the absence of any legitimate explanation, the expulsion appears to be national origin-based and possibly racially and politically motivated, an action explicitly prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Right Act of 1964," Professor Wang wrote in the letter.  

On the same day, retired Julie Tang also wrote to UNT to protest the expulsion of Chinese students. "Their summary removal from the College appears to be a serious violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process of the law under the 14th Amendment," Judge Tang said in the letter.  

UNT President Neal Smatresk had issued a statement on "Moving Forward and Living Our Values as a Diverse, Inclusive Community" on June 17, 2020. "I am steadfastly committed to celebrating our diversity and working toward the changes necessary for our university to lead in the fight against racism and bias so that each and every individual feels like a valued member of our Mean Green family," the statement said.

A concerned individual has also sent a protest message to UNT President Smatresk, pointing out that the purge of Chinese scholars is not based on misbehavior but on the source of their funding assistance. The UNT letter is a "get-out-of-Dodge" letter from the "Sheriff" with no pretense of due process. "It is a resurrection of the shameful Chinese Exclusion Acts of the past."

On September 3, 2020, the petition to "Take back the decision to end the relationship with the Chinese scholars who fund by CSC" has gathered morfe than 6,000 signatures.  It has been reported that UNT expelled 15 Chinese government-backed scholars.

It is unknown at this time whether the expulsion is a unilateral decision made by UNT, how many other higher education institutions have taken similar action on their own, or an implemenation of a government policy.  Available evidence suggests that it may be related to a 2020/08/18 letter from a State Department official.