The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sued the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to force the agency to release documents about foreign funding to American colleges and universities.
The center accuses the Trump administration of postponing responses six times to a Freedom of Information Act request. After the Education Department created an online portal on Jan. 2 that shows how much foreign funding schools have received, it said it would release the names of the foreign funders by July 15. It did not do so in response to requests as recently as Oct. 2, the center says.
According to the suit, the department said that it is “facing significant delays in processing times.”
The suit notes that the Association of American Universities sued the department and secured a temporary restraining order on Oct. 1 to stop the department from releasing the identities of foreign funding sources that the association’s members reported. That shouldn’t have stopped the department from making a determination on the FOIA request, according to the lawsuit. (JNS sought comment from the Education Department.)
“At a time when the risk of foreign interference in our institutions is clear, Americans have a right to know who is funneling money into our colleges and universities,” stated Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the center. “The public deserves the facts about whether foreign governments and institutions are using financial relationships to influence what happens in the classroom, how universities operate and the alarming rise of antisemitism on our campuses.”
“After six delays and a court order blocking disclosure, we are taking legal action to ensure this information does not remain hidden,” he said.
Marcus is a former assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights.
