The Trump administration accused UC Berkeley of not having disclosed millions of dollars of foreign funding on Friday, praising the new muscle application of an obscure federal rule in the midst of continuous efforts to break the main research institutions in America.
The flagship product of the University of California is the second high-level school to be surveyed this month for alleged violations of article 117 of the 1965 law of higher education, which requires the disclosure of “donations and contracts with foreign sources” worth $ 250,000.
A similar investigation into Harvard was announced last week. On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive decree ordering the Ministry of Education to strengthen the application of the rule.
The ministry “will begin by examining in depth the fact that the UC Berkeley does not and precisely disclose significant funding received from foreign sources,” said the United States Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement.
Dan Mogulof, assistant vice-chancer of UC Berkeley Communications and Public Affairs Office, published a statement which said that the school was already in contact with the federal authorities about the issue.
“In the past two years, UC Berkeley has cooperated with federal surveys concerning report issues (section) 117, and will continue to do so,” said Mogulof.
The audits are the last in a dam of administrative actions against elite universities across the country.
The plan of the campaign season known as Project 2025 which presented the potential agenda of Trump highlighted section 117 as a possible mechanism to recover federal funding from the best schools, in particular through Pell scholarships and Fullbright scholarships – a move according to experts could devastate critical research.
“All of these existential threats for the Research University as it currently exists,” said Kevin Kinser, professor of Penn State University education policy. “A world class university must have commitments in the world – this is what defines the world class.”
The system of the University of California was already in shock from massive federal financing reductions, cancellations of visa from students and probes of the Ministry of Justice on admissions and allegations of anti -Semitism. Harvard, the richest school in the world, has become an improbable popular hero after postponing administration requests for extended school control.
A wave of challenges in article 117 could further isolate institutions already in the process of de factt.
American elite universities are already deeply tangled with the best schools abroad, engineering partnerships with the Indian Institute of Technology at the Persian Gulf campuses in Georgetown, Texas A & M and Nyu.
Supporters say that these partnerships are essential for innovation and academic excellence. Critics argue that foreign species buy an influence on American students and the corners open a rear door to American intellectual property for foreign governments.
“The protection of American interests in educational, cultural and national security requires transparency concerning foreign funds flowing towards American higher education and research establishments,” said Wednesday’s decree.
The new UC Berkeley survey revives a house subcommittee in 2023 on the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, a partnership between the College of Engineering of UC Berkeley and the Chinese University of Tsinghua began in 2016.
The two schools are widely collaborating on research, including clean energy and climate change for decades. Tsinghua has similar official partnerships with the University of Washington, Indiana University and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, among others.
According to the tax forms of its American non -profit organization, Tsinghua gave $ 2.5 million to UC regents to finance the program in 2019 and 2018. It gave $ 4.5 million to the Regents in 2017.
The staff editor Jaweed Kaleem has contributed to this report.
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