A coalition of 26 major organizations has submitted a joint letter urging the US Congress to pass the DETERRENT Act, targeting undisclosed foreign funding in US universities.
Among the list of signatories are the Jewish Federation of North America, StandWithUs, HinduACTion, The American Islamic Forum for Democracy, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
The DETERRENT Act, which already passed the House with bipartisan support (241–169) in March 2025, and is now under consideration in the Senate, strengthens Section 117 reporting requirements for foreign donations and contracts to institutions of higher education.
The legislation is designed to close gaps in oversight and ensure that foreign influence in American academia is fully disclosed and subject to accountability.
Dr. Charles Asher Small, founder and executive director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), spoke of how ISGAP’s Follow the Money Project uncovered systematic efforts to circumvent existing transparency requirements under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.
More than 8,300 transactions worth more than $5.2b
ISGAP found that universities have chronically underreported or entirely omitted foreign gifts and contracts from mandatory federal disclosures.
“It’s paramount that we adopt the DETERRENT Act to enforce the law and safeguard our institutions,” he said.
Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires institutions receiving federal funding to disclose foreign gifts and contracts to the US Department of Education. The purpose of this act’s disclosures is to ensure transparency about the scale and sources of foreign funding shaping American higher education.
However, recent findings indicate that billions of dollars in foreign funding, particularly from non-democratic states such as Qatar, have gone unreported or underreported.
“The US higher education system is being targeted by authoritarian regimes and nations seeking to exploit our students and innovation centers for their own gain,” said Tyler Stapleton, senior director of Government Relations Foundation for Defense of Democracies Action.
“China, in particular, is using its universities as a front for its military to partner with leading US universities and gain access to sensitive defense research and intellectual property. Without greater visibility in higher education, we are ceding ground to America’s adversaries.”
Alan Friedman, North Jersey Political Action Committee, spoke of how such opacity in funding sources helps antisemitism flourish: “Antisemitism flourishes in the dark – when those funding it can hide in anonymity.”
It is important to note that the DETERRENT Act does not prohibit universities from engaging in international partnerships. Instead, it makes sure that these engagements are conducted transparently, with accurate reporting of funding sources and amounts.
In February, the US Department of Education released a report on foreign funding disclosures submitted by American colleges and universities for 2025.
Universities receiving federal financial assistance are obligated to disclose foreign-source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more annually.
In total, there were more than 8,300 transactions worth more than $5.2b. in reportable foreign gifts and contracts, the Education Department reported.
The largest foreign sources of reportable gifts and contracts to American universities were Qatar, the United Kingdom ($633 million), China ($528m.), Switzerland ($451m.), Japan ($374m.), Germany ($292m.), and Saudi Arabia ($285m.).
The top university recipients of those foreign funds were Carnegie Mellon University (nearly $1b.), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (nearly $1b.), Stanford University ($775m.), and Harvard University ($324m.).
