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Should colleges and universities be required to disclose the names of foreign donors?
The Education Department shouldn’t cave to higher education groups trying to block the release of foreign donor names. I have filed more than 100 public records requests on higher education foreign funds, even obtaining donor names for 12 of the Association of American Universities’ member institutions. I have found that public disclosure of foreign donors is neither unprecedented nor incompatible with foreign gift giving to universities.
New York state has required both public and private universities to disclose foreign funds since 1984, prior to the enactment of federal Section 117 regulations. Even as state public records disclose some foreign donor identities, New York universities have attracted substantial foreign gifts and contracts. Between 2015 and 2025, Cornell reported at least $3.6 billion while Columbia received at least $1.1 billion, according to federal data I obtained. Cornell, moreover, entered into a lucrative partnership with the Qatar Foundation in 2001 to operate a branch campus in the Gulf state.
New York isn’t alone in disclosing some donor identities. Other states, including Pennsylvania, Utah and New Jersey, provide this information, too.
Transparency measures aren’t running universities dry of foreign funds.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Wall Street Journal
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Neetu Arnold is a Paulson Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute, where she focuses on K–12 and higher education