E&W Blog

American colleges and universities receive billions in taxpayer dollars. Many also conduct research that is important to our economy and national security.

So when foreign governments and other foreign sources give money to American schools, the public deserves to know about it.

New investigations into Duke University (Duke) and the University of North Dakota (UND) show why that transparency matters.
 
The Department of Education, in coordination with the Department of State, recently opened investigations into both schools after their reports on foreign money were incomplete, inaccurate, or filed late.
 
Colleges that receive federal funding are required to disclose large payments from foreign sources. But federal officials say Duke and UND may not have told the full story about some of their foreign funding—including allegedly identifying foreign government partners as private organizations.
 
For the Education and Workforce Committee, the concerns surrounding Duke aren’t new.
 
Last year, Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) raised concerns directly with Duke about its partnership with Wuhan University in China. The Committee’s oversight examined Duke Kunshan University and raised questions about taxpayer-funded research, sensitive technology, and Duke’s ties to Chinese entities connected to China’s military and government.
 
Now, federal officials are taking a closer look at Duke’s foreign funding. 
 
Thankfully the Trump administration has taken this issue seriously. Duke and UND bring the total number of foreign funding investigations during the second Trump administration to five. These investigations also build on significant work done on this issue during the first Trump administration. 
 
In contrast, during all four years of the Biden-Harris administration not a single new investigation was ever opened.
 
These investigations are still underway, but they point to a larger problem the Committee has been working to fix: Americans don’t know enough about the foreign money flowing into our colleges and universities.
 
That’s why the House passed the bipartisan DETERRENT Act.
 
The bill would lower the amount of foreign money that triggers reporting requirements from $250,000 to $50,000. And when money comes from countries of concern, including China and Russia, colleges would have to report every dollar.
 
The DETERRENT Act would also close reporting loopholes, shine more light on foreign money tied to university researchers, and strengthen consequences for schools that fail to follow the law.
 
The House passed the bill in March 2025 by a bipartisan vote of 241–169. It is still awaiting action in the Senate.
 
Americans shouldn’t have to wonder who is funding our colleges—especially when those schools receive taxpayer dollars.
 
Without stronger safeguards like the DETERRENT Act, foreign adversaries will continue looking for ways to use American universities, American research, and American taxpayer dollars to advance their own interests.