On Wednesday, Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. The letter highlighted China may have a hold over the United States through its influence on college campuses.
??@VirginiaFoxx and @RepJimBanks Urge Biden Administration to Show Progress on China Fighthttps://t.co/nMmiujhDuu pic.twitter.com/Y0AD76P8kA
— House Ed & Labor Republicans (@EdLaborGOP) June 16, 2021
The letter contained a focus on Section 117 of the Higher Education Act (HEA), with the letter explaining this "requires higher education institutions to disclose large gifts and contracts from overseas sources to the Department." As Reps. Banks and Foxx write, "information about these financial arrangements gives both Congress and the federal government valuable insight into possible security risks and conflicts of interest posed by foreign governments’ financial ties to U.S. colleges and universities."
The Department’s Office of General Counsel is cited in the letter:
The disclosure mandated by Section 117, and the law’s robust enforcement, are essential because hostile governments and their instrumentalities have targeted the higher education sector for exploitation to infiltrate cutting-edge American research projects, influence curricula, and gain access to systems and information available through overseas “campuses” that receive less rigorous oversight than their domestic counterparts. Additionally, they recruit top American talent through talent programs or academic exchanges.
This concept becomes even more crucial when it comes to concerns that the Chinese Communist Party may be infiltrating American universities, including through their Confucius Institutes present on campuses, including Harvard and Yale. The letter provides examples:
Examples of the threats posed by our adversaries to American universities are well documented. Confucius Institutes, once present at hundreds of American universities and colleges, have been used by Communist China to control curriculum, censor political debate, and oversee teacher hiring, event selection, and speaker engagements. In 2020, a Harvard University professor who received more than $15 million in grant funding from the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense was indicted for concealing his role as a “strategic scientist” for the Chinese government which paid him a $50,000 monthly stipend, over $150,000 in living expenses, and provided him $1.5 million to establish a research lab in China. Further, a federal grand jury recently expanded charges against a Stanford University researcher alleged to be a member of China’s People’s Liberation Army. The FBI warned colleges a decade ago about how hostile actors use campuses for spying, propaganda hubs, and faculty recruitment. Unfortunately, too many institutions failed to take this warning seriously.
In another example of how the Trump administration differed from others, the letter noted that that administration "modernized the reporting process and found over $6.5 billion in unreported gifts and contracts and opened 19 university investigations."
Here is where the concern comes in to do with the Biden administration's lack of action. In addition to how "the Department has closed only four of those investigations to date," it has not "started or provided status updates on any other investigations into foreign gifts or contracts." The letter notes that the signatories "are concerned by these facts, considering it was conveyed to Congress that career civil servants at the Department and other agencies were supportive of Section 117 compliance and oversight."
The letter does not mince words about their concerns, including specifically with the congressionally approved cabinet member and his department.:
The Department must enforce the law and coordinate with other federal agencies to defend citizens from security threats. As Congress debates legislation to counter the threats posed by China and other adversarial nations, your commitment to carrying out the law is critical. The lack of progress we have seen on this issue since your confirmation as Secretary is alarming, and we are concerned the Department is not treating threats from China and other adversarial nations seriously.
Questions asked of Sec. Cardona included:
- How many full-time equivalent staff do you have analyzing section 117 of the HEA’s foreign gift and contract disclosure requirements? Has this number changed in the last six months?
- Did the January 31, 2021, reporting period find any previously unreported gifts or contracts and, if so, what was the total amount?
- What was the total amount of reported foreign gifts and contracts and how many new filers were a part of the January 31, 2021, reporting period?
- Have you opened any university investigations or subpoenaed any documents related to section 117 compliance?
- How do you intend to complete the 15 open university investigations? Please provide written observations from the investigation review as was done in the October 2020, Institutional Compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, “OGC report.”
- What range of corrective measures do you have to force noncompliant institutions to disclose foreign gifts and contracts?
- What interagency memberships are you working through and what agreements do you have in place to respond to potential adversarial nation security threats?
As the letter references, Congress is debating legislation to do with China, the Endless Frontier Act. Such legislation aims better enable the United States to compete with China, or at least it's supposed to.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 68-32 and is also to be considered in the House. Concerns abound, from taxpayer funding reaching the CCP to animal-human experiments using aborted fetal body parts, to the creation of animal-human embryos.
The Department of Education has been less than forthcoming on the issue. Jerry Dunleavy, with The Washington Examiner, has at best been given vague statements from the department.
On Wednesday he reported that "The Education Department declined in May to weigh in on investigations into foreign funding on campuses initiated by the Trump administration when asked by the Washington Examiner. Department officials wouldn’t comment on possible future inquiries after Trump officials increased pressure on China."