Wednesday, 30 April 2025

UC Berkeley Hit With Federal Investigation Over Foreign Funding

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The Department of Education has just launched an investigation into UC Berkeley centering around foreign funding from China.

Allegedly, the major university failed to disclose a whopping $220 million in donations from the Chinese government for a new campus in Shenzhen.

Colleges and universities are required to report any foreign gifts valued at $250,000 or more to the Education Department.

In 2023, UC Berkeley admitted failing to properly disclose the millions of dollars in foreign government funding.

Here are the details:

BREAKING: UC BERKELEY UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OVER FOREIGN FUNDING

The U.S. Education Department is investigating UC Berkeley for allegedly failing to properly disclose foreign funding – particularly hundreds of millions linked to China.

At the center of the probe: Berkeley’s reported $220 million deal to build a new campus in Shenzhen, in partnership with Chinese government-linked institutions.

Officials say Berkeley’s required federal disclosures may have been “incomplete or inaccurate,” raising alarms about transparency, foreign influence, and national security.

The investigation follows rising concern over Chinese investments in U.S. universities – especially those with research ties to sensitive technology, energy, and AI.

The outcome could trigger tougher regulations across American higher education.

Hmmm…

So, UC Berkeley received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding linked to the CCP and didn’t wanna tell the U.S. government about it.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

Rep. Mike Lee responded to news of the investigation:

Per AP News:

The Trump administration launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, on Friday centered on foreign funding, making it the latest university to be targeted by the federal government.

The investigation revives criticism from several years ago about the university’s partnership with China’s Tsinghua University. It comes after President Donald Trump earlier this week signed a series of executive orders focused on universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda.

One order called for harder enforcement of Section 117, a federal law requiring colleges to disclose foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more.

The Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel will investigate “UC Berkeley’s apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

UC Berkeley denied the government’s claims, saying that for the last two years “UC Berkeley has been cooperating with federal inquiries regarding 117 reporting issues, and will continue to do so.”

The department cited media reports from 2023 about UC Berkeley failing to disclose “hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from a foreign government” but didn’t mention the country.

The Hill added:

The Department of Education said Friday it would launch an investigation into the University of California (UC), Berkeley, over improper foreign funding disclosures.

The department said the school may have violated Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, alleging that documents submitted to the department on the school’s behalf were “incomplete or inaccurate,” according to a Friday release.

Higher education institutions receiving federal financial assistance are required to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more annually to the Education Department.

In May 2023, the Daily Beast reported that UC Berkeley received $220 million from the Chinese government to launch a joint venture with the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute.

The department acknowledged the probe was sparked by media reports alleging the institution accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from a foreign government, but it did not specify from which outlet, article or country the information originated.

In 2023, UC Berkeley then acknowledged having failed to report millions of dollars in foreign government funding, as required by Section 117, according to the department’s release.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

View the original article here.


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