AAU Sues to Block Federal Transparency on Foreign Funding of Universities
19th October 2026
Foreign influence on university campuses in the U.S. is a serious threat to national security. In 2024, a congressional investigation exposed nearly $40 million in unreported research contracts between the Chinese Communist Party and two top U.S. research universities.
To protect national security and provide greater transparency to the American people, the U.S. Senate should consider the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act to shine sunlight on university dealings with foreign entities.
Yet some organizations are trying to stop any attempts to provide transparency over such funding. For example, earlier this month, the Association of American Universities filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education in a bid to stop the second Trump administration from publishing data on foreign spending sources on U.S. colleges just as the administration was prepared to release it. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order pausing the release of the data.
The Education Department intends to proceed, stating that “Americans deserve transparency about the billions flowing from overseas to U.S. campuses, and [the Department of Education] will fight AAU in court to deliver it.”
The Association of American Universities noted that it was concerned that releasing such data on donors would lead to “harassment, reputational harm, and, in some cases, real danger [to donors] in their home countries … ”
Then they ought to leave. If they can’t leave, how do they have money to donate to American universities? And why?
Leftists are always complaining about how businessmen will chase a dollar even if it means trampling on others, but businessmen are positive sluggards behind an academic chasing a funding dollar.