House committees investigating Harvard University allege the school received more than $600 million from China, created a nonprofit that could bypass federal foreign-funding disclosure requirements and maintained research collaborations with Chinese institutions tied to the country’s defense sector.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Harvard University received more money from China than any other American university while maintaining research relationships with Chinese institutions connected to the country’s military and defense establishment, according to a congressional report released Aug. 13.
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The House Select Committee on China and the House Education and Workforce Committee alleged that Harvard prioritized financial relationships over U.S. national security interests and identified extensive financial and academic connections between the university and China.
According to the report, Harvard has disclosed approximately $4.5 billion in foreign funding, including about $630 million from China-based sources, making China the university’s largest source of foreign funding.
Federal law requires colleges and universities to disclose gifts and contracts from foreign sources when the total exceeds $250,000 during a year.
The committees also accused Harvard of establishing a nonprofit organization called Harvard Global in a way that could allow the university to circumvent those federal disclosure requirements.
According to the report, Harvard Global previously stated on its website that it could act as a “proposal applicant and awardee” for grants or other awards that Harvard itself could not accept for legal or financial reasons.
The committees said the language was removed after lawmakers provided Harvard with a draft of their findings.
“Harvard created an entity in a blatant attempt to get around federal foreign funding disclosure laws. That’s unacceptable, especially given Harvard’s history of failing to comply with these requirements,” House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in a statement.
The report extends beyond questions involving foreign donations.
Investigators identified 140 academic publications jointly authored by Harvard-affiliated researchers and researchers connected to Chinese universities.
Those collaborations included researchers affiliated with one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense,” a group of elite universities directly overseen by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
That ministry regulates China’s defense sector.
The committees alleged that Harvard researchers have collaborated with “Chinese universities that, as a matter of policy, conduct extensive weapons research and development and hold top-secret security clearances with the PLA [People’s Liberation Army].”
One example cited in the report involved a 2023 paper concerning magnetic materials.
The research was co-authored by a Harvard-affiliated researcher and a researcher from China’s National University of Defense Technology.
The U.S. government has placed the National University of Defense Technology on its entity list because of national security concerns.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said the findings raise broader questions about Chinese Communist Party influence and the protection of American research.
“From allowing violence against anti-China protestors to collaborating with entities linked to the PLA, Harvard has made serious mistakes and must act now to prevent more,” Moolenaar said.
He called for Harvard to implement reforms intended to reduce Chinese Communist Party influence on campus and strengthen safeguards surrounding U.S. research.
Harvard did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
The congressional report follows a separate Justice Department inquiry involving Harvard’s financial relationships with China.
On July 20, the Justice Department announced that it was investigating whether Harvard violated Title VI by excluding American students from certain financial aid programs funded by China-based sources.
According to the department, Harvard appeared to accept money from Chinese sources that required the university to establish financial aid programs “with preference given to students from particular countries.”
The DOJ inquiry adds another dimension to federal scrutiny of Harvard’s foreign funding, focusing not only on disclosure requirements but also on whether donor-imposed conditions resulted in discriminatory treatment of American students.
The university’s approximately $630 million in disclosed funding from China represents a substantial portion of the nearly $4.5 billion in foreign funding Harvard has reported.
The House committees are now arguing that those financial relationships must be considered alongside Harvard researchers’ academic collaborations with institutions connected to China’s military establishment.
Their report portrays the issue as both a transparency concern and a national security matter, particularly where research is conducted jointly with universities involved in defense research or connected to the People’s Liberation Army.
The committees have not alleged in the material provided that all 140 jointly authored publications involved military research. Their findings instead identify the volume of collaboration and highlight particular partnerships they believe warrant closer examination.
The 2023 magnetic-materials paper involving the National University of Defense Technology was presented as one such example.
Congressional investigators are also scrutinizing Harvard Global because of the possibility that foreign money could be routed through an affiliated entity rather than reported through the university itself.
The report’s allegation that Harvard Global could accept awards Harvard was unable to receive “for legal or financial reasons” became particularly significant to lawmakers because of existing federal requirements governing foreign gifts and contracts.
Harvard’s removal of that wording after receiving the committees’ draft report did not resolve lawmakers’ concerns.
The findings place Harvard at the center of a widening federal examination of foreign money, academic collaboration and Chinese influence within American higher education.
For congressional investigators, the central issue is whether a university receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from China can maintain adequate safeguards around research, foreign funding and relationships with institutions tied to the Chinese defense sector.
The committees are calling on Harvard to make changes aimed at strengthening disclosure practices, limiting Chinese Communist Party influence and protecting U.S.-based research from national security risks.
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