According to this news release, a senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents after requesting a copy of Mao’s
“Little Red Book” via interlibrary loan. This turns out to be a complete hoax, a fabrication by the student for unknown purposes.

BoingBoing notes:

[Y]esterday, the student confessed that he had made it up after being confronted by the professor who had repeated the story to a Standard-Times reporter. The professor, Brian Glyn Williams, said he went to his former student’s house and asked about inconsistencies in his story. The 22-year-old student admitted it was a hoax, Williams said.

Why is this important? Because it concerns a foreign nation’s politics and the US anti-terrorism effort. This unknown student’s lies connect Chinese propaganda with an American anti-terrist response. This reinforces a US-Chinese tension that is detrimental to friendliness between both nations.