 Hu Dunfu, the first dean of Tsinghua who had graduated in mathematics from Cornell University, insisted that students of Tsinghua should study more science and engineering, but American teachers, backed by the American ambassador, maintained that they should focus more on the English language and the literature, history and geography of America.They were also angered by the stark contrast in treatment between American and Chinese teachers in Tsinghua; the former were paid nearly ten times as much as the latter, so they were determined to found a university that was academically independent and truly belonged to the Chinese people.In Shanghai, Hu Dunfu was invited by Ma Xiangbo, his former teacher at the Catholic school Collège Saint-Ignace, to be the dean of Fudan Public School (now Fudan University), which was founded by Ma in 1905.