After announcing it would end a nine-year relationship with its Confucius Institute, Western Kentucky University is still working out the details of that decision, including the fate of a program that brought Chinese teachers into 47 public schools in 20 Kentucky school districts.

“We’re still looking for some way to keep this program alive,” WKU spokesman Bob Skipper told the Daily News. “That’s an important outreach for us, but it’s not something that we can afford to take on all on our own.”

On April 22, WKU President Timothy Caboni announced the decision in an email to faculty and staff, explaining a conflict with the university’s Chinese Flagship Program. The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, allows students to take Chinese language courses in addition to their major and minor coursework and pursue educational opportunities in China as well.

“Defense spending legislation passed in 2018 prohibits institutions from hosting Confucius Institutes if they receive U.S. Department of Defense funding for Chinese language programs,” Caboni wrote in the email.

“Although many efforts have been made, WKU has been denied a waiver from the (Department of Defense) that would allow WKU to operate both the CI and the Chinese Flagship Program,” Caboni wrote.

Although WKU announced activities were to be phased out in the coming weeks, the fate of the institute’s school-based Chinese language and cultural education program is unsettled. At the time, Caboni said WKU would look for ways to maintain the pipeline of students and instructors from China.

Skipper said WKU notified the Defense Department of its decision to close the institute, meaning its support for the Chinese Flagship Program is no longer in jeopardy.

The fate of a building on campus on Normal Drive that housed the Confucius Institute is another loose end. Built in partnership with Hanban, the headquarters of the Confucius Institute in China, it was dedicated in May 2017 as a Model Confucius Institute.

According to a 50-year contract with Confucius Institute headquarters signed in December 2014 by then-WKU President Gary Ransdell, both the university and the headquarters kicked in $1.5 million for the building’s construction. According to the contract’s terms, the building “shall be subject to the free and exclusive use of the Model Confucius Institute for 50 years.”

The contract also stipulates a cost for terminating the agreement before its 50-year term. In such a case, the university must notify Confucius Institute headquarters in writing and refund the $1.5 million invested by the headquarters in a lump sum within 45 days of the termination or pay 0.1 percent interest for each late day.

Asked what will become of the building, Skipper said: “It’s still too early to be thinking about that.”

“We’ve got some issues to resolve, discussions with Confucius Institute headquarters,” he said. “It’s probably going to be a little while before we can start making plans for the use of that building.”