The Confucius Institute will continue its programming at Simpson County Schools starting this fall.

In September 2018, WKU planned to continue hosting the Confucius Institute despite a bill signed by President Donald Trump prohibiting Pentagon funding from going to this program. By April, WKU had announced it would no longer work with the Confucius Institute after being denied a waiver.

In a statement released today, it was announced that the Simpson County Schools will take over the Confucius Institute, and the program will be renamed to the Confucius Institute at Western Kentucky, dropping “University” from the name.

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When the initial announcement about the phasing out of the program came in April, President Timothy Caboni said WKU would continue to work with “key partners” to find a way to continue their programming. According to the release, many of the previously associated schools will continue their programs with the new version of the program.

Terrill Martin, who was interim director of the program while it was at WKU and will go with the program director to Simpson County, said that there’s a value in keeping the phrase western Kentucky in the name.

“I feel that Simpson County Schools is the perfect partner,” Martin said in the brief. “Simpson County was one of the first school districts to partner with the CI at WKU, back in 2010.”

News reporter Lily Burris can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @lily_burris.