UC Berkeley Faces Probe on Foreign Funding

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    BERKELEY, Calif. — The Trump administration has initiated an inquiry into the University of California, Berkeley regarding foreign funding, marking the institution as the latest academic entity to come under federal scrutiny. This investigation rekindles earlier accusations related to UC Berkeley’s collaboration with Tsinghua University in China.
    The investigation follows several executive orders signed by President Donald Trump earlier this week, aimed at universities perceived to challenge his political interests. One directive emphasizes stricter enforcement of Section 117, a federal mandate requiring institutions to report foreign gifts and contracts valued over $250,000.
    According to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel will probe “UC Berkeley’s apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources.”
    In defense, UC Berkeley countered the allegations by stating that the institution has been cooperating with federal inquiries about 117 reporting issues for the past two years and intends to continue its cooperation.
    The department did not specify a country in its allegations, although media reports from 2023 claimed UC Berkeley did not disclose “hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funding.” In May 2023, The Daily Beast claimed that UC Berkeley had not reported $220 million in funds from the Chinese government for the development of a joint Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute. Established in 2014 in Shenzhen, the collaboration aims to focus on “strategic emerging industries,” per the institute’s profile.
    A report last year by Republican members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party suggested that U.S. taxpayer dollars may have inadvertently supported China’s advancement in technology and military through collaborations between American and Chinese researchers in fields such as nuclear technology, AI, and semiconductor tech.
    UC Berkeley responded to these findings, asserting that their research endeavors are always shared openly worldwide and are unaware of any projects conducted with alternative motives. The university subsequently declared their intention to terminate the partnership.
    The university has confirmed that as of this announcement, it is no longer associated with TBSI.
    In a parallel development, the Department of Education recently requested documentation from Harvard University regarding foreign financial ties over the past ten years, accusing Harvard of providing “incomplete and inaccurate disclosures.” This is part of a broader conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard involving disagreements over the university’s response to certain pro-Palestinian protests and its policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.