A group of seven U.S. senators introduced the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, S.3362, last week to heighten oversight of foreign gift reporting at American colleges and universities.
Envisioned by lawmakers as a way to deter what they called malicious foreign influence, the bill would reduce the amount needed to trigger gift reporting from $250,000 down to $50,000, and require such flags on all donations for countries of concern, no matter the amount. Certain loopholes in current laws would be closed and disclosures of foreign gifts to individual staff and faculty and research-heavy institutions would also be enforced. Even endowments would not be safe from scrutiny, and financial repercussions would follow for colleges and universities that fail to comply with reporting, including fines and the loss of Title IV funding.
“Gifts often come with strings attached, especially when they’re from the Chinese Communist Party,” said U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), one of the bill’s cosponsors. “I’m proud to work with my colleagues to prevent malign foreign entities from infiltrating our universities, stealing our technologies, and compromising our national security. It’s past time we unwrap this influence-buying scheme.”
In a statement, Ernst also noted that the legislation was a follow-up to oversight efforts that dinged the Biden administration for failure to open a single investigation under the Higher Education Act’s Section 117, which requires institutions to report gifts upon receipt. Given that law has been attacked previously for loose language, the effects of both at work have, according to the senators, led to potentially billions of dollars in foreign funds entering the country undetected.
A 2019 Senate report found that as much as 70 percent of all institutions failed to comply with Section 117 as it stands.
Other sponsors of the bill included U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO).