WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and colleagues introduced legislation to bring greater transparency, accountability and clarity to foreign gift reporting requirements for American colleges and universities in an effort to protect higher education institutions from foreign adversaries’ influence. Grassley has long raised concerns over foreign influence in our schools, particularly through the Chinese Communist Party’s use of Confucius Institutes, and has worked to bring transparency to America’s higher education system.

“The United States must be on the lookout for adversarial foreign powers who lavish academic institutions with gifts in an effort to curry good favor with or shape American education,” Grassley said. “Our bill would shine a brighter light on foreign funding at America’s colleges and universities to bring accountability where it’s badly needed.”

“America’s foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party, are targeting our nation’s students by stealing research, spewing anti-American propaganda, and censoring free speech by providing American academic institutions with lucrative funding opportunities,” Tillis said. “Too often, schools fail to report these foreign gifts and funding, leaving our adversaries with an undetected stranglehold on U.S. academic institutions. This legislation is a crucial step towards transparency and protecting American education and students from malicious foreign influence.”

Background

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires federally-funded higher education institutions to report to the Department of Education any foreign gifts valuing $250,000 or more. Yet, a Senate oversight investigation found up to 70 percent of all institutions failed to comply with Section 117. Compounding this problem, the Biden administration has not leveraged Section 117 to open a single investigation into any institutions’ potential violation of the law. Section 117’s loose language, the Biden administration’s poor enforcement efforts and institutions’ refusal to adhere to the law has allowed billions of dollars in foreign funds to infiltrate our country undetected.

To address this, the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act would:

  • Slash the foreign gift reporting threshold for colleges and universities from $250,000 to $50,000, with an even stricter threshold of $0 from countries of concern;
  • Close reporting loopholes and provide transparency to Congress, intelligence agencies and the public;
  • Require individual staff and faculty at research-heavy institutions to disclose foreign gifts to protect those most targeted by our adversaries;
  • Hold our largest private institutions accountable for their financial partnerships by revealing concerning foreign investments in their endowments; and
  • Implement a series of repercussions, including fines and the loss of Title IV funding, for colleges and universities that remain noncompliant in foreign gift reporting.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) also cosponsored the legislation. Companion legislation by Reps. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) recently passed the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

Full text of the legislation can be found HERE.

-30-