The United States Department of Education Office of the General Counsel launched a federal foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan Tuesday, according to a press release. The DOE claims the University has failed to accurately and fully disclose the origins of funding originating from foreign institutions.
The DOE stipulates the University must submit several documents that record U-M funding within 30 calendar days, including tax records related to foreign funding from Jan. 1, 2020 to the present day; written agreements with each non-U.S. government, non-governmental or educational institution or corporate entity involved in undergraduate and graduate international student admissions; and identification of all U-M undergraduate and graduate research personnel involved in collaborations with non-U.S. institutions.
The launch of the investigation comes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation separately charged and arrested two Chinese scholars connected to research at the University for smuggling biological material into the United States. Yunqing Jian, a Chinese student and research fellow specializing in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University, and her boyfriend were charged June 3 for allegedly carrying dangerous pathogenic material into the U.S. A few days later, Chengxuan Han, a Chinese doctorate student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and visiting scholar at the University, was arrested after making false comments about the shipment of material related to the cultivation of roundworms to addresses in the U.S.
According to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, all institutions receiving federal financial assistance must disclose all foreign gifts and funding over $250,000 to the DOE. In the press release, Paul Moore, DOE chief investigative counsel, wrote the University continues to remain vulnerable to potential national security threats and, as a federally funded institution, must be transparent in reporting all foreign funding or gifts.
“Unfortunately, tens of millions of dollars in foreign funding in UM’s disclosure reports have been reported in an untimely manner and appear to erroneously identify some of UM’s foreign funders as ‘nongovernmental entities,’ even though the foreign funders seem to be directly affiliated with foreign governments,” Moore wrote. “OGC will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the American people know the true scope of foreign funding and influence on our campuses.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has launched similar investigations into Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley related to national security concerns. In January, the University severed relations with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives raised national security concerns. In recent weeks, Republican lawmakers have pressured seven U.S. universities to cease their support for the China Scholarship Council, a Chinese-backed study abroad program. Members of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party claimed the program serves to aid the Chinese government in acquiring information related to U.S. military and technology.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokesperson Colleen Mastony wrote the University is committed to upholding research integrity and will fully comply with the federal investigation.
“As one of the world’s leading public research institutions, the University of Michigan is dedicated to advancing knowledge, solving challenging problems and improving nearly every facet of the human experience,” Mastony wrote. “Our research enterprise is united in this commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world. The University of Michigan takes its responsibility to comply with the law extremely seriously, and we will cooperate fully with federal investigators. We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university’s critical public mission.”
Summer News Editor Claudia Minetti can be reached at cminetti@umich.edu.
