Universities are required to disclose gifts greater than $250,000, but many institutions do not comply with the law or underreport their total gift receipts.
A Republican Senator is seeking to require colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts in order to combat covert influence operations from American adversaries.
Senator Jim Banks (R., Ind.) introduced Tuesday the Safeguarding American Education from Foreign Control Act to limit the impact of foreign money and influence on U.S. universities, National Review has learned.
“Americans deserve to know if universities are accepting money from our enemies like China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. This bill delivers that transparency and stops hostile nations from hiding their influence on our campuses,” Banks said in a statement.
Banks’s legislation is being co-sponsored by Senators Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.). Representative Erin Houchin (R., Ind.) is set to introduce companion legislation in the House. The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is also backing Banks’s bill.
“When it comes to malign foreign influence at our universities, no amount should go overlooked. Senator Banks’s bill provides the first line of defense by strengthening transparency for gifts from adversarial countries,” Manhattan Institute analyst Neetu Arnold said in a statement provided to NR. Arnold closely analyzes foreign influence at American universities, especially from China and Qatar, and has proposed model legislation to combat the issue.
The Safeguarding American Education from Foreign Control Act would mandate schools to disclose gifts from foreign sources tied to American adversaries. It also requires the Education Department to disclose reports on foreign gifts and contracting to law enforcement. Banks introduced the legislation as a House lawmaker, with then-Senator JD Vance (R., Ohio) putting forward the Senate’s companion version.
Banks has similarly moved to limit Chinese influence introducing bills to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from stealing critical U.S. research and ensure American retirement funds are not strengthening Chinese companies.
Colleges and universities are required to disclose gifts greater than $250,000, but many institutions do not comply with the law or underreport their total gift receipts, according to a report from Americans for Public Trust, a right-leaning dark money watchdog.
Americans for Public Trust found that Qatar poured $342 million into colleges and universities last year, and China pumped another $176 million into them. Over the past couple decades, foreign nations have given schools $60 billion of gifts and contracts, with a third of the money going to a group of 10 elite institutions.
Foreign influence at elite colleges and universities has become particularly scrutinized because of the anti-Israel encampments that broke out at schools nationwide last year. The disruptive protests often featured calls to violently destroy Israel and paired that with anti-American sentiment.