UC Berkeley probed over millions in foreign funding

President Donald Trump’s administration launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, over reports that it failed to properly report “hundreds of millions of dollars” in foreign government funding, including from China. 

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Friday that it’s seeking information related to foreign sources of funding to the university, noting that a review of U.C. Berkeley’s disclosures to the government appeared to be “incomplete or inaccurate.”

According to 2023 media reportscited by the department, the university had not reported “hundreds of millions of dollars” in foreign government funding. While the department did not name any specific foreign governments, media outlets reported in 2023 that UC Berkeley didn’t disclose a $220 million investment for a joint campus in China. 

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

The education department said that it sent the university a letter in June 2023 requesting that the institution address the allegations. Berkeley issued two responses in the summer of 2023, acknowledging that it failed to report the funding, as required under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

The act requires federally funded universities to disclose any foreign gifts of $250,000 or more each year to the Department of Education. According to the government agency, Berkeley, in 2023, detailed its multiyear effort to cultivate a close relationship with and secure financial commitments from “foreign government-controlled entities.”

In its Friday statement, the department said, “Berkeley’s responses revealed a fundamental misunderstanding regarding its Section 117 reporting obligations.”

Linda McMahon, the U.S. Secretary of Education, accused the Biden-Harris administration of having turned “a blind eye to colleges and universities’ legal obligations by deprioritizing oversight and allowing foreign gifts to pour onto American campuses.”

“Despite widespread compliance failures, no new Section 117 investigations were initiated for four years, and ongoing investigations were closed prematurely,” McMahon said in the department’s Friday statement. 

“I have great confidence in my Office of General Counsel to investigate these matters fully, and they will begin by thoroughly examining UC Berkeley’s apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources,” she added. 

U.C. Berkeley did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment. 

Trump signed an executive order last week, directing administration officials to enforce existing laws that require higher education institutions to disclose certain details about foreign funding. 

“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,” the president stated in his executive order. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced that it was freezing $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million in multiyear contracts to Harvard University. The funding freeze came after the Ivy League university refused to comply with the Trump administration’s demands in an April 11 letter.

The letter sought disciplinary action for the individuals who participated in the anti-Israel protests that broke out on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel perpetrated by Hamas. In addition, the letter called on the university to expel the students responsible for the Oct. 18, 2023, assault of an Israeli business student.

The Trump administration also demanded that Harvard prioritize “viewpoint diversity” in admissions and hiring and take steps to reform “programs with egregious records of antisemitism or other bias” by conducting an audit. 

In a letter to the campus community last week, Harvard President Alan Garber stated that the institution filed a lawsuit over the funding freeze. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, maintains that the government’s action violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.