Officials from the National University of Singapore said they are moving forward with plans to open a liberal arts college with Yale in the island nation, the online newspaper University World News reported Thursday. The announcement follows the sentencing of British writer Alan Shadrake for criticizing Singapore’s judiciary in a book he published this summer, which two Yale professors pointed to as a reason why Yale should not continue with the proposed collaboration between Yale and NUS. In Singapore, the collaboration has received the support of the Ministry of Education’s International Academic Advisory Panel, which counts former Yale Provost Alison Richards among its members, the report added.

An official from the NUS steering committee for the project said the final details of the project will be released in December.