Ed Dept opens investigation into university with ‘deep involvements with Chinese entities’

The Department of Education (ED) opened an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) Friday over its reported ties to Chinese sources, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

ED claims the university has failed to report “hundreds of millions of dollars” it received from foreign government over a span of several years, prompting the department to initiate a records request, the DCNF was told. The foreign funding sparks concerns the school has “deep involvements with Chinese entities” and may be sharing information about research and “important technologies.”

The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2023 found “grave research security concerns” with UC Berkeley due to the school’s partnership with the CCP-controlled Tsinghua University and the Shenzhen government.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order requiring American universities to be more transparent about any foreign donations they accept. The order calls on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to seek information from universities about the source and purpose of foreign funding and make such details available to the public and also tasks the U.S. Attorney General with enforcing the disclosures and holding schools accountable.

UC Berkeley did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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