Foreign Influence in Education

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Proposal:

It should be illegal for schools and universities to accept donations from citizens, agents, or governments of foreign countries.

It should be illegal for professors and teachers to accept donations from citizens, agents, or governments of foreign countries.

All foreign investment in education must be accepted by the federal government, which would then distribute funds to states, which would then distribute funds to state universities and colleges and to regional and local governments, which would then distribute funds to their school districts. Individual public school districts may only raise funds with local bonds or by accepting grants or loans from their local or regional government, as applicable. State colleges and universities may only conduct their own fundraising activities or accept grants or loans from their own state government — not from the federal government or foreign citizens, agents, or governments. Federal colleges and universities may only conduct their own fundraising activities or accept grants or loans from the federal government — not from any state government or any foreign citizens, agents, or governments. It should be illegal to bypass this chain of financing.

Intent:

The intent of this proposal is to prevent foreign influence in education. When a university or school receives a significant donation from a foreign country, well-meaning administrators who wish to keep the funding may allow themselves to be influenced to adjust the curriculum, or allow or prohibit behavior, which in the end may be contrary to the interests of the people, country, and state in which the university or school is located.

The fundraising activities referenced in the proposal include things like sports, music, or art events; alumni donations; and revenue from conferences, special lectures, patents, and other academic, athletic, scientific, technological, artistic, or literary activity that is related to the school’s charter.

Discussion:

Each country has its own values and principles and culture which, in most cases, the people in that country prefer to keep. Donations to education can come with “strings” (influence) attached, or they can come ostensibly without “strings” but then if the institutions become dependent on them, the threat of ceasing donations suddenly reveals a vulnerability to influence. This proposal is intended to protect the educational institution from foreign influence by requiring all foreign donations to be made to the highest level of government, which can then allocate them as it sees fit and disconnect the donations from any foreign influence on the recipient institutions.

If this separation of donations and influence makes it suddenly undesirable for foreign countries to fund local education, that’s fine too.

Related articles:

Unreported foreign donations to universities foment anti-semitism (Newsweek) related to donations from Arab countries to universities, some of which have not taken appropriate action to maintain civil discourse of anti-Israel protests on their campuses in late 2023 and in 2024 after the 7 Oct 2023 attack on Israel that resulted in more than 1,000 people killed and more than 3,000 people wounded and more than 200 people taken hostage (not including dozens of hostages that were taken and then either killed or freed before the attack ended).

How China infiltrated US classrooms (Politico) related to funding of “Confucius Institute” branches by the Chinese government, ostensibly to teach Chinese language and culture, but also with a documented purpose of propagating Chinese propaganda and exerting “soft power” internationally.

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