Ed Dept Opens Investigation Into ‘Infiltration’ Of Foreign Governments At Ivy League University

The Department of 🎓Education (ED) opened an investigation Thursday into the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) over its alleged failure to accurately report the foreign funding it receives.

ED said the Ivy League university has a long history of “inaccurate and incomplete” reporting of foreign funding and has initiated a public records request from the school. The department is seeking information regarding UPenn’s tax records, all foreign gifts, grants, contracts and agreements the university has been involved with since 2017 as well as its internal policies regarding complying with federal disclosure requirements.

“UPenn has a troubling Section 117 compliance history, having failed to disclose any foreign funding until February of 2019 despite a decades-long statutory obligation to do so,” Acting General Counsel Tom Wheeler said in ED’s press release. “Although the previous Administration degraded the Department’s enforcement of universities’ legal obligations to disclose foreign gifts and contracts, the Trump Administration will vigorously uphold the law and ensure universities are transparent with their foreign gifts and investments.”

The department is also requesting information from UPenn on all staff responsible for conducting research in collaboration with foreign entities and those involved with administering the Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Program.

Higher Education