China gifts and intellectual theft under microscope

The U.S.A. Justice Department eventually dropped the "China Initiative" that began under the Trump administration; the ripples from it emerged in law suits by professors who were targeted in the effort. Officials said that the focus of the effort ceased to be useful, although the Department will still watch for an investigate cases of intellectual theft on the behalf of China. The chronology that follows recounts the period when the Trump-directed policy was actively pursued.

U.S. federal authorities began review of foreign gifts to universities in 2019. The primary focus of the review was on China, although the preliminary report identified six universities that were found to have received $1.3 billion in "gifts" from China and Russia for activities that the investigators found "disturbing."

Harvard and Yale underwent investigations for foreign gifts with the U.S. Department of Education claiming that Yale may not have reported as much as $375 million in foreign funding. The Harvard question is one of whether or not foreign funds have appropriate institutional controls in place. Betsy DeVos, U.S. Secretary of Education, said, "Unfortunately, the more we dig, the more we find that too many are underreporting or not reporting at all," in as institutions receiving foreign funding. House Republican lawmakers continued to examine documents to clarify gifts given to Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago, University of Delaware, NYU, and the University of Pennsylvania.

While U.S. federal authorities are scrutinizing gifts, there is another side to the question. The Council for the Advancement of Support of Education admonishes that gifts are essential to fund a breadth of higher education institutions and must be maintained.

Florida lawmakers initiated an inquiry into foreign funding of higher education after it was discovered that scientists from the Moffitt Cancer Center participated in a government-sponsored recruitment program sponsored by the Chinese government. At issue from Florida legislators' perspective is foreign meddling in state research university affairs. Reinforcing the position taken by other lawmakers in the state, Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to 26 Florida institutions warning about the influence of Chinese Communists in academia.

Harvard professor, Charles Lieber, was charged for misrepresenting payments he received from the Chinese government and was found guilty in December 2021 of lying to federal theories and concealing his involvement in a Chinese talent program. He is one of three Boston-area academics who have been accused of having ties to Chinese entities that have attempted to steal research from U.S.A. universities. Additionally, a professor at Ohio State, and researchers at Stanford, the University of California, Davis, and Texas A&M were arrested for allegedly hiding their ties to China. A University of Florida professor has been indicted for exchanging information from a NIH grant with Chinese company. A Chinese researcher at UCLA has been charged with destroying evidence after throwing a damaged hard drive into a dumpster. A math professor at Southern Illinois University has been charged with wire fraud and making false statements regarding his ties with a Chinese university. A civilian professor at the Air War College in Alabama pleaded guilty to lying about contact with a Chinese government official. The flurry of cases against Chinese professors has caused some colleagues and students to question if investigations and charges might have turned into discriminatory targeting, as in the case of a Yale professor of cell biology.

A jury found an engineering professor at the University of Kansas guilty of fraud and making false statements, which stirred concern about other cases against Chinese academics. Charges against a University of Tennessee engineering professor ended up in mistrial amidst concerns raised about racial profiling associated with the targeting that took place during the Trump administration. Prosecutors in the Tennessee case sought retrial but the outcome was acquittal and University of Tennessee faculty called for reinstatement of the accused professor. Charges against MIT professor, Gang Chen, for nondisclosure of Chinese ties were dropped, which was celebrated by colleagues and MIT's President. The number of cases and the rhetoric around Chinese scholars' offenses may be causing legitimate scholars to be viewed negatively by their peers said Frank Wu, President of Queens College in New York.

After the U.S. Department of Education proposed a new form to collect information about foreign gifts to universities in excess of $250,000, it withdrew the plan. The American Council on Education and other associations challenged the collection of information as going beyond the scope of the law.

After President Biden's inauguration and the policy changes that followed, the Department of Justice announced that it was considering an amnesty offer to academics who have received foreign funding. The amnesty would offer the chance to disclose funding sources without fear of governmental reprisal. Additional Justice Department action proposed to reduce the risks of supporting China from a criminal to a civil offense. The Department of Justice also dismissed charges against five Chinese scientists who were accused of not disclosing ties to China.

Germany has now become embroiled in similar questions about international gifts and partnerships. The Fee University of Berlin signed a contract that bound it to abide by Chinese law, which included the potential to restrict subjects prohibited by the Chinese government. German officials assert that giving discretion in exchange for Chinese financial support is untenable. One parliamentarian tweeted, "The interference of China at FU Berlin clearly shows how China envisages 'cooperation' with our educational institutions. Independence of science is one of the most important freedoms and must be guaranteed."  The Australian government has also launched investigation of ties to China and abuses associated with gifts to its higher education sector.