Richard Liu alleged rape — an impossible situation for the University of Minnesota?

Richard Liu (刘强东 Liú Qiángdōng), CEO of ecommerce giant JD.com, was arrested on suspicion of rape in Minneapolis in September, after a party with associates from a University of Minnesota executive education program. Liu was released without being charged. He returned to China, while the Minneapolis police conducted an initial investigation into the rape accusation. They passed their findings to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, “which says it has no deadline for deciding whether to press charges,” according to the New York Times (porous paywall).

• Liu has continued to deny allegations that he raped a student while in Minneapolis.
• The case “puts the university administration in an impossible situation” as it tries to simultaneously protect its students and its reputation, said Kristen Houlton Shaw, the executive director of the nonprofit Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis, to the New York Times.
• “The program he’s participating in is a major moneymaker — it brings in these highfliers and heavy hitters from around the world,” said Shaw, adding, “Their prospective students are watching.”
• $10 million is how much the Times says the program has earned the university in tuition fees since it began last year.
• See also: Sexual misconduct and the problem with Chinese internet companies, earlier on The China Project.