The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is urging the U.S. Department of Education to stop delaying release of documents showing foreign sources of funding to colleges and universities.
In a letter to the department on Monday, the center, which is representing the Louis D. Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, a separate entity, states that Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires schools to disclose publicly certain gifts and contracts of $250,000 or more in a calendar year.
The department said on July 6 that it would release a report on July 15 that would feature “the names of all foreign sources from prior reporting cycles” but postponed releasing the report four times in the past two months. The current release date is now said to be Sept. 11, according to the Brandeis Center.
“These repeated postponements are increasingly difficult to reconcile with the transparency objectives of Section 117 and the department’s own stated commitment to publishing this information,” the center wrote. “Moreover, the department has not publicly identified the legal basis for continuing to withhold information that it has repeatedly announced would be released.” (JNS sought comment from the Education Department.)
Karen Paikin Barall, chief policy officer of the center, told JNS that “the data being withheld includes historical and current records dating back to when the law was enacted in 1986, including information about foreign entities and individuals.”
The center is calling on the department to release the information by Sept. 11 at latest. It also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the information as part of the letter.
“It’s important to stress that the American public has a right to know who is funding our universities, particularly when that funding may influence academic programs, what is taught and who is teaching it,” Paikin Barall told JNS. “Congress also has a right to this information in order to conduct meaningful oversight.”
