After his expulsion, Sim dropped out of the political scene, and instead dedicated himself fully to working with the Jiao Zong, continuing his fight for rights for the Chinese language through peaceful petitioning. In the late 1960s, calls for an independent Chinese university started to grow in response to the restrictions placed on Chinese students wanting to study abroad, and Sim started to focus on this new fight.
開除黨籍後，沈慕羽卸下黨政包袱，反倒得以全力投身於「教總」的經營，並以和平請願方式繼續爭取華文權益；此時華社為因應當局限制華校生出國深造，籌辦華文獨立大學的呼聲鵲起，沈慕羽遂將重心集中在「獨大」爭取上。