Summary: Universities across the country have received billions of dollars from foreign governments in the last two decades, with those in Nevada collecting over $31 million from foreign governments since 2011, including millions from Saudi Arabia and China.
1. What is this funding for and why should people question it?
A: This shows that countries try to buy foreign influence in higher education and it’s worrisome because three of the top donors across America are Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China, each contributing billions to American universities.
Of the $31 million to Nevada universities since 2011, $3 million came in the last year.
Since 2011, Nevada universities received $8.8 million from China and $2.6 million from Saudi Arabia, two countries with massive human rights abuses.
Saudi Arabia tortures people, they hold unfair trials that end in the death penalty and women have little rights, and are required to have male guardians
In China, people don’t have freedom of speech, or freedom to practice their religion of choice, they’re tortured, have forced abortions and forced sterilization, state-sponsored forced labor and more.
2. How does that $31 million break down among the public universities in Nevada?
A: UNLV got almost $20 million — $7.7 million from China, $2.2 million from Saudi Arabia, and another $9.7 million from allies like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea and Australia
The Reno campus got $11.5 million total – $1.1 million from China, almost $400,000 from Saudi Arabia, and another $10 million from allies.
The records don’t always include any details on what this money is for.
It can be research it’s funding, scholarships for students, usually from those foreign countries, fellowships, various programs and symposiums and that can be examples of foreign governments trying to buy influence over American universities
3. Universities are required to report their foreign funding but there’s a bill to increase transparency, tell us more.
A: Universities must report payments of more than $250,000 from foreign sources to the Department of Education.
The DETERRENT Act lowers the $250,000 reporting threshold to $50,000 for most countries, or down to a single dollar for adversarial nations like China, Iran, Russia, North Korea.
They would also be required to get permission from the Education Secretary to do business with “countries of concern”
It passed the House with 31 Democrats voting for it – and needs passage in the Senate.
By passing the DETERRENT Act, taxpayers can get a handle on the full scope and scale of cooperation with (and influence from) China and other adversarial nations.