around 2018 was when the department of defense issued a directive to all higher education research institutions in the US, that if they allow the Confucius Institute to continue on campus and affiliate with the school (CI was the primary organization to facilitate study abroad programs in China), all DoD-linked research funds would be halted.

I was working at an R1 at the time, and that would have been immediately fatal to the university's budget. so they were unceremoniously booted off campus with a long email from the president saying, "thanks, but we must stay open because we are a public good" or some other handwringing bs.

I should know because I had been browsing their materials after just finishing my MSc. I thought I'd take a year or so to "just work" and then maybe go get a PhD in China in something unique to the field, related to my discipline, but impossible to study in the US.

then the door just slammed shut.

pretty sure some variation of that happened nationally.