Federal law requires schools to disclose substantial foreign gifts and contracts to the Department of Education twice a year.
The University of California, Berkeley, is under investigation for allegedly not reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from a Chinese entity and allegedly sharing information about an “important technology,” the Department of Education announced on April 25.
The research university will have 30 days to comply with a record request in this matter, a senior official said during a press call.
Officials did not detail the link between Chinese contributions to Berkeley and the sharing of the technology. A release sent after the call noted that the activities being questioned date back to 2023, when the elite school revealed a “fundamental misunderstanding” of its reporting obligations.
This investigation follows a similar probe into Harvard University’s reporting of foreign funding.
This announcement follows President Donald Trump’s April 23 executive order “To End Harmful Foreign Influence at American Universities,” which states China and Qatar have funneled billions of dollars into American higher education institutions with little oversight to push their propaganda.
The senior official said these reporting regulations, which require universities to report any donations of $250,000 or more twice a year, predate the Trump administration and were lax under former President Joe Biden, who moved enforcement of these requirements from the Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel to its Office of Federal Student Aid.
The penalties for non-compliance were not disclosed.
In the news release, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said, “The Biden-Harris administration 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.
An October 2020 report conducted during Trump’s previous administration determined that several universities failed to report more than $6.5 billion in foreign gifts and contracts.
The Department of Education also reported that, dating back to 2014, U.S. universities had received more than $19.6 billion in foreign donations or contracts, including $3.1 billion from Qatar, $1.5 billion from China, and $1.1 billion from Saudi Arabia.
There are no laws prohibiting colleges and universities from accepting donations from any nation, including China, Russia, or Iran, but disclosure is required, the senior official said, adding that the University of Texas is a good example of a school that complies with the regulation and reports “every dollar.”
The Epoch Times has previously reported on Berkeley’s partnerships with Chinese universities and collaborative work involving major technology companies from China.
Berkeley issued a brief response regarding the Department of Education’s investigation.
“Over the course of the last two years, UC Berkeley has been cooperating with federal inquiries regarding 117 reporting issues, and will continue to do so,” the university said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.