Senate Passes Bill to Counter Threats Posed by Confucius Institutes on US Campuses

A view of the Confucius Institute building on the Troy University campus in Troy, Ala., on March 16, 2018. Kreeder13 via Wikimedia Commons

The Senate on March 4 passed a bill that aims to rid U.S. college and university campuses of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence through Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes.

The legislation, which passed by unanimous consent, would force universities that host Confucius Institutes to take full control of the centers, including what it teaches and who it hires, or lose federal funding. The bill, dubbed the “CONFUCIUS Act,” was also passed by unanimous consent during last year’s Senate session.