Education Department Seeks University of Alabama Records on Alleged China Funding

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos speaks during a daily briefing on COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on March 27, 2020. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The University of Alabama (UA) has been asked by the Department of Education (ED) to provide records of any contracts, gifts, or donation agreements it may have had with dozens of China-funded companies and institutions listed by the department.

The request was sent in a Dec. 22 letter (pdf) from the ED’s office of the general counsel to the university’s president. The letter starts by pointing out that under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, institutions of higher education are required to report any gifts or contracts “from or with a foreign source.”