A Wednesday executive order from US President Donald Trump will require transparency in foreign university funding, with Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon emphasizing that the order would address the problem of Chinese and Qatari influence in American academic institutions.
Trump’s order called for McMahon to take all appropriate action to enforce preexisting laws on foreign funding to universities and to demand the disclosure of more details about the donations, their sources, and purposes.
McMahon and Attorney-General Pam Bondi were ordered to hold institutions that failed to properly disclose foreign funding accountable, and to conduct audits and investigations where appropriate.
The order explained that legislation on foreign funding in higher education had not been robustly enforced, with blame leveled at former US president Joe Biden’s administration. Trump accused Biden of undermining investigations into foreign funding by moving the task out of the Education Department, and supposedly undoing his previous term’s work.
The previous Trump administration had opened 19 investigations into undisclosed foreign funds, according to the order, leading to the reporting of a further $6.5 billion in foreign funding.
Trump’s new administration suggested that as much as half of reportable foreign gifts were not being disclosed, and funds that had been reported supposedly did not detail their true sources.
A Wednesday White House Fact Sheet claimed that $60b. in foreign gifts and contracts had flowed into American academic institutions over several decades, and only 300 institutions self-reported about the matter each year.
“Protecting American educational, cultural, and national security interests requires transparency regarding foreign funds flowing to American higher education and research institutions,” read the order.
“It is the policy of my administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation,” it read.
Although the order empowering McMahon did not point to funding from a particular state as an issue, the education secretary highlighted funding from China, allegedly used to steal intellectual property, and Qatar influencing approaches on Israel.
“Colleges and universities have a legal duty to report foreign gifts and contracts, and, in President Trump’s first term, the Department of Education held them to it.
“Unfortunately, over the last four years, the Biden administration has undermined the structures the president established to accomplish this critical work, allowing nations like China and Qatar to funnel billions of dollars to US universities with little to no oversight.
“This financial infiltration enabled foreign governments to steal taxpayer-funded intellectual property and reshape how our elite campuses teach about Israel and the Middle East,” McMahon said in a Wednesday statement.
“President Trump’s executive order will safeguard American interests on campus and protect students. The Department of Education will follow the money, put a stop to malign foreign infiltration, secure the research enterprise, and restore American campuses to marketplaces of ideas rather than hosts for foreign propaganda,” she said.
Harvard is already under the microscope
The Education Department on Friday began to inquire about foreign funding at Harvard University, requesting its records on the subject, amid the federal government’s crackdown and spat with the institution over demanded policies to combat campus radicalism and antisemitism.
McMahon wanted to verify compliance with the 1965 Higher Education Act, requesting that Harvard provide a list of foreign gifts, grants, and contracts, as well as the identities of those involved in the donations.
The request also sought a list of visiting researchers, scholars, students, and faculty, as well as details about foreign students who had been expelled or had their credentials canceled.