Chris Lange, FISM News
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House Republicans have requested information from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona concerning unreported foreign gifts to American colleges and universities.
The House Education and Workforce committee sent a letter to Cardona Wednesday requesting “information on whether colleges and universities are complying with reporting requirements” outlined in Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, “which requires schools to report foreign gifts and contracts.”
The missive, penned by Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and signed by 21 GOP members of the committee, cites an October 2022 investigative report by the Trump administration’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) which found that U.S. colleges and universities had received nearly $6.5 billion in unreported foreign gifts.
The OCG report states, in part, that “[T]he filings received … by the Department indicate the largest, wealthiest, and most sophisticated … institutions of higher education have received nearly all foreign funds, receiving billions … in assets using an assortment of related intermediaries, including functionally captive foundations, [and] foreign operating units.” The OGC concluded that “Section 117 reporting is systemically underinclusive and inaccurate.”
In their letter to Cardona, the lawmakers noted that the Biden administration “has done very little, if anything, to pursue enforcement of Section 117 or to open new investigations.”
“[G]iven the lack of detail in the administration’s recent budget proposals, including the FY 2024 proposal, we write to inquire about current Section 117 operations and enforcement activities of the Department,” the letter continued.
The lawmakers said that evidence suggests that U.S. colleges and universities have “massively underreported” foreign gifts and have taken steps to preserve donor anonymity, “all to hide foreign sources (and, correspondingly, their influence on campus).”
China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar had, at the time of the Trump-era investigation, made anonymous donations to U.S. higher ed. institutions exceeding $1.14 billion since 2012.
DEADLINE TO COMPLY
The committee has given Cardona two weeks in which to provide them with information on the Education Department’s budget and spending on Section 117 activity for fiscal years including 2021 and 2023, as well as the 2024 budget plan for compliance, reporting, and enforcement.
The lawmakers have further requested “a detailed status report” on 15 higher ed institutions listed on the Education Department’s website under “Notices of Investigation and Records Requests.”
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a signatory to the letter, recently re-introduced the Foreign Influence Transparency Act. The legislation essentially eliminates loopholes that have allowed foreign entities and U.S. schools to circumvent reporting requirements.
“For too long, foreign entities have taken advantage of exemptions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and made transactions with American universities that are often undisclosed,” Wilson’s office said in a March 28 press release.
We must reinforce existing laws designed to stop foreign government attempts to influence our colleges and universities through the promotion of their political agenda. I’m grateful to lead this legislation which will do so.https://t.co/4VbhiIGbcQ
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) March 31, 2023
Wilson argued that China, specifically, has made no secret of its efforts to promote Chinese Communist Party propaganda in U.S. schools through state-controlled Confucius Institutes.
“The CCP isn’t shy about this,” Wilson was quoted as saying in the release. He cited a 2009 statement from former CCP propaganda head Li Changchun, who referred to “Confucius Institutes [as] ‘an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.’”
Wilson stated that “Colleges and universities must be transparent about their relationships with these malign actors.”