House Republicans seek information about Chinese funding from Harvard, Yale, and other universities

A trio of House Republican leaders gave Harvard, Yale, and a handful of other universities a week to hand over documents and other information on their foreign funding amid increased scrutiny about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign entities on U.S. campuses.

The GOP letters told the schools that “we write to further understand the effects of adversarial foreign direct investment in the U.S. higher education system” and noted that an Education Department investigation “has uncovered over $6.5 billion of previously unreported foreign donations” to U.S. institutions of higher education.

Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky, and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina — the ranking members on the Judiciary, Oversight, and Education committees, respectively — requested Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Chicago, the University of Delaware, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania provide answers about all of their gifts from and contacts with the governments of or businesses and nationals from China, Russia, Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia by next Monday.