The Department of Education on Tuesday launched an investigation into the University of Michigan over the school’s global funding and “vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence” following the arrests of several Chinese scientists who were connected with the university and charged with smuggling biological materials into the United States.
The department cited the “highly disturbing criminal charges” slapped against the Chinese scientists in June as it unveiled the federal investigation that accused the university’s foreign funding reports of containing “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures.” The Education Department also expressed concern that the Michigan school had downplayed the risks of research collaborations with Chinese institutions, which are often tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Today’s investigation into UM reflects the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to hold colleges and universities accountable for failing to comply with federal disclosure laws on foreign funding, consistent with President [Donald] Trump’s Executive Order on ‘Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities,” an Education Department release read.
Paul Moore, the department’s chief investigative counsel, accused the university of having a history of “downplaying its vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence,” adding that “recent reports reveal that UM’s research laboratories remain vulnerable to sabotage.” In a letter to the university, he accused it of violating a federal disclosure law about foreign gifts due to alleged “incomplete, inaccurate, and untimely” disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more connected to Chinese research.
As part of the investigation, the department gave the school 30 days to hand over more than five years’ worth of records related to foreign donations, foreign research collaboration, international students and their visas, and the names and contact information of school personnel who supervise such matters.
“As the recipient of federal research funding, UM has both a moral and legal obligation to be completely transparent about its foreign partnerships,” Moore wrote, promising to “vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the American people know the true scope of foreign funding and influence on our campuses.”
The new investigation comes after authorities brought charges last month against a Chinese scientist and his girlfriend who worked at a University of Michigan lab and were accused of smuggling a toxic fungus into the U.S. Zunyong Liu is alleged to have brought the biological pathogen, which federal officials said had the potential to be used as an agricultural “terrorism weapon,” into the country while visiting his girlfriend last year.
Liu admitted to smuggling the fungus so he could conduct research on it at the laboratory where his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian, worked, according to an FBI complaint.
Days after Liu and his girlfriend were targeted by the U.S. government, authorities temporarily detained another Chinese scientist arriving in the U.S., charging her with smuggling goods to a University of Michigan laboratory. Chengxuan Han was accused of bringing biological materials related to roundworms into the U.S. for her work at the school’s laboratory.
Responding to the Education Department’s investigation into her school on Tuesday, Colleen Mastony, assistant vice president for public affairs, said the university “is dedicated to advancing knowledge, solving challenging problems and improving nearly every facet of the human experience. Our research enterprise is united in this commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world.”
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“The University of Michigan takes its responsibility to comply with the law extremely seriously, and we will cooperate fully with federal investigators. We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university’s critical public mission,” she said in a statement to the Detroit News.
China remains the second-largest country of origin for foreign students in the U.S., after India. The University of Michigan is one of the recipients of international Chinese scholars, including scientists who come to the school. Roughly half of the approximately $2 billion the school spends on research each year comes from the federal government, according to the Education Department.
