First Harvard, now UC Berkeley: Trump administration to probe foreign funds
The University of California flagship is the second top school to come under investigation this month for alleged violations of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which requires disclosure of 'foreign source gifts and contracts' worth more than $250,000.
A similar investigation into Harvard was announced last week. On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Education to ramp up enforcement of the rule.
The department 'will begin by thoroughly examining UC Berkeley's apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources,' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of the UC Berkeley communications and public affairs office, issued a statement that said the school has already been in contact with federal authorities about the issue.
'Over the course of the last two years, UC Berkeley has been cooperating with federal inquiries regarding [Section] 117 reporting issues, and will continue to do so,' Mogulof said.
The audits are the latest in a barrage of administrative actions against elite universities around the country.
The campaign-season blueprint known as Project 2025 that laid out Trump's potential agenda highlighted Section 117 as a possible mechanism to claw back federal funding from top schools, including through Pell Grants and Fullbright Scholarships — a move experts say could devastate critical research.
'All of these are really existential threats to the research university as it currently exists,' said Kevin Kinser, a professor of education policy at Penn State University. 'A world-class university has to have engagements around the world — that's what defines world-class.'
The University of California system was already reeling from massive federal funding cuts, student visa cancellations and Justice Department probes into admissions and allegations of antisemitism. Harvard, the world's richest school, emerged as an unlikely folk hero after it rebuffed the administration's demands for extensive control of the school.
A wave of Section 117 challenges could further isolate institutions already under assault.
America's elite universities are already deeply enmeshed with top schools abroad, from engineering partnerships with the Indian Institute of Technology to the Persian Gulf campuses of Georgetown, Texas A&M and NYU.
Proponents say such partnerships are essential to innovation and academic excellence. Critics argue that foreign cash buys influence over American students and wedges open a back door to American intellectual property for foreign governments.
'Protecting American educational, cultural, and national security interests requires transparency regarding foreign funds flowing to American higher education and research institutions,' Wednesday's executive order reads.
The new UC Berkeley inquiry revives a 2023 House subcommittee investigation into the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, a partnership between UC Berkeley's College of Engineering and China's Tsinghua University begun in 2016.
The two schools have collaborated extensively on research including clean energy and climate change for decades. Tsinghua has similar formal partnerships with the University of Washington, Indiana University and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, among others.
According to tax forms from its American nonprofit, Tsinghua gave $2.5 million to the UC Regents to fund the program in 2019 and 2018. It gave $4.5 million to the Regents in 2017.
Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.
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USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Texas Democrats know they're fighting a losing cause. At least they're fighting.
This move by Democrats is performative at best. But it's one of the only things they've done to counteract President Trump's complete takeover of the government. Democrats in Texas are trying to represent the will of their constituents. To do so, they had to leave the state. On Aug. 4, the Texas Legislature was scheduled to vote on congressional redistricting that would turn five districts favoring Democrats to favor Republicans. To prevent the vote from happening, Democratic state legislators fled Texas, ensuring that the General Assembly would not have a quorum and thus making the vote impossible. 'We come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas,' state Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said at an Aug. 3 press conference in Chicago. Other legislators traveled to Albany, N.Y., and Boston. On one hand, this move by the Democrats is performative at best. Eventually, they will have to go back to Texas, and the new maps will be voted on. This doesn't mean it's a bad thing, though. It's one of the only things Democrats have done to counteract President Donald Trump's complete takeover of the government. Texas Democrats are pushing back on Republican antics This did not come out of nowhere – Trump specifically asked Republicans in the state to redraw the congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms to give their party an advantage through gerrymandering in the state's cities, which would give Democrats even less representation than they currently have. Gov. Greg Abbott had to call a special session to approve the maps. At the press conference, Wu pointed out that this decision is happening against the backdrop of historic flooding in central Texas in July that killed 135 people, including more than 35 children. Instead of focusing on disaster relief, Republicans are choosing to address the congressional maps. Republicans in Texas should be focused on helping their communities, not bending to the whims of the president. At the very least, redrawing districts could wait until after flooding has been addressed. While it was bold of Democrats to leave at such a perilous time, it's clear they're doing so because they feel it's the only option. Opinion: Republicans are afraid of Mamdani in New York. That's a good thing. Democrats know this is all for show. At least they're taking a stand. The Democrats are certainly getting the attention of their fellow Texas politicians. Abbott is so upset, he's threatening to remove the lawmakers from office if they do not return to the state to vote on the new maps. He also said the Democrats possibly committed felonies by fundraising for the $500 a day fines they're facing. 'Come and take it,' the Democrats replied. Opinion: What if I told you there's a Democrat who can still get the Republican vote? Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is also running for U.S. Senate, said he believes the runaway legislators should be 'found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.' Dustin Burrows, a Republican and the Texas Speaker of the House, has said he's prepared to issue civil arrest warrants for the missing Democrats. Trump has not weighed in on the Democratic play, seeing as he's too busy firing the commissioner of Labor Statistics and weighing in on Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad. Ultimately, this act of protest will have to come to an end. Democrats will have to head back to Austin and vote on these maps, whether they like it or not. But at least they're doing something to sound the alarm on the president's meddling and Republican acquiescence. People have been souring on the Democrats as of late. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most Democrats see their party as 'weak' or 'ineffective.' It doesn't help that Democratic leadership is nowhere to be found nationwide. If anything, this act of protest will put attention back on the party and serve as a starting point for a stronger presence in predominantly red states ahead of the midterms. They're finally fighting back, even in a very red state like Texas. Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno
Los Angeles Times
23 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
California redistricting would be ‘triggered' by Texas maps, Newsom says
WASHINGTON — A last-ditch effort by California Democrats to redraw the state's congressional map for the 2026 election, countering a similar push by Texas Republicans, is now up against the clock. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that Democrats are moving forward with a plan to put a rare mid-decade redistricting plan before voters on Nov. 4. But state lawmakers will craft a 'trigger' for the legislation, he said, meaning California voters would only vote on the measure if Texas moved forward with its own plans to redraw Congressional boundaries to add five more Republican seats. 'It's cause and effect, triggered on the basis of what occurs or doesn't occur in Texas,' Newsom said. 'I hope they do the right thing, and if they do, then there'll be no cause for us to have to move forward.' Democratic lawmakers in Texas on Monday left the state to deprive Republicans of the quorum needed to pass the new maps. Republican lawmakers voted 85 to 6 to send state troopers to arrest them and bring them back to the Capitol, a move that is largely symbolic, since the lawmakers won't face criminal or civil charges. The outcome of the dueling efforts between Texas and California could determine which party controls the House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections, which Democrats see as the last bulwark to President Trump's actions in his second term. Trump has pushed Republicans to add more GOP seats in Texas, hoping to stave off a midterm defeat. Democrats hold 43 of California's 52 congressional seats. Early discussions among California politicians and strategists suggest that redrawn lines could shore up some vulnerable incumbent Democrats by making their purple districts more blue, while forcing five or six of the state's nine Republican members into tougher reelection fights. But nothing official can be done until state lawmakers return from recess to Sacramento on Aug. 18. Democrats, who hold a supermajority in the Legislature, would have less than a month to draw a new map, hold hearings and negotiate the language of a bill calling for the special November election, leaving just enough time for voter guides to be mailed and ballots to be printed. Democratic lawmakers and operatives said Monday that the timeline is doable, but they would have to act quickly. California's Democratic congressional delegation expressed consensus during a video meeting Monday with moving forward with a ballot measure that would allow mid-decade redistricting only if another state moves forward with it, according to a person familiar with the virtual meeting, and that the change would be temporary. They expressed their support for the independent commission. California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the Democratic caucus met Sunday night 'to discuss the urgent threat of a continued, blatant Trumpian power grab — a coordinated effort to undermine our democracy and silence Californians.' Democrats in the California Senate and Assembly held separate meetings to discuss redistricting. David Binder, a pollster who works with Newsom, presented internal polling that showed tepid early support among voters for temporarily changing state laws to allow the Legislature to draw new maps for elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. 'Our voters must be empowered to push back,' Rivas said. 'California has never backed down — and we won't start now.' Democratic lawmakers' exodus from Austin on Monday denied Republicans the quorum necessary to proceed with a vote on a redrawn state map that could net Republicans five congressional seats. Democratic lawmakers balked at threats from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The Texas House Democratic Caucus put out a statement riffing on a slogan made famous during the Texas Revolution: 'Come and take it.' One member of the caucus noted that being absent was not a crime and that Texas warrants can't be served in Illinois or New York, where many lawmakers have gone. 'There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says,' said Jolanda Jones, a Democrat. 'He's trying to get soundbites, and he has no legal mechanism.' The Texas House Republican speaker, Dustin Burrows, said that Democrats leaving does not 'stop this House from doing its work. It only delays it.' But Abbott's legal options to get his redistricting bill passed, by expelling Democrats or compelling their return, appear narrow, likely forcing the governor's office to make challenges in courtrooms based in Democratic districts. Abbott has until the end of the year to secure new maps for them to be used in the state's March 3 primaries. At a news conference last week in Sacramento, Newsom compared Trump's pressure on Abbott to add five Republican congressional seats as akin to his efforts to 'find' 12,000 votes to win Georgia after the 2020 election. 'We're not here to eliminate the commission,' he said. 'We're here to provide a pathway in '26, '28 and in 2030 for congressional maps on the basis of a response to the rigging of the system by the president of the united states. It won't just happen in Texas. I imagine he's making similar calls all across this country. It's a big deal. I don't think it gets much bigger.' For decades, redrawing California's electoral maps amounted to political warfare. In 1971, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan vetoed a redistricting plan that he called 'a mockery of good government.' The California Supreme Court ultimately drew the lines, and did so again in 1991, when then-Gov. Pete Wilson rejected maps drawn by Democrats. California's state lawmakers last drew their own district lines in 2001, after members of both parties signed off on a plan drawn up to protect incumbents. In 2008, California voters stripped state lawmakers of the power to draw their own districts by passing Proposition 11, which created an independent redistricting commission. Two years later, voters handed the power to redraw congressional district maps to the same panel by passing Proposition 20. That group drew the lines before the 2012 elections, and again after the 2020 Census. California set the date for its last statewide special election — the 2021 attempted recall of Newsom — 75 days in advance. County election officials would need at least that much time to find voting locations and prepare ballots for overseas and military voters, which must be mailed 45 days before election day, one elections official said. 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'The kind of money that it would take to battle this — it would have to be national funding effort.' While Texas prompted California Democrats to take action, Fleischman said, the issue has enough momentum here that it ultimately doesn't matter what Texas does. 'If Gavin Newsom places this on the ballot, it means he's already done his polling and has figured out that it will pass because he cares more running for president that redistricting in California,' Fleischman said. 'And he knows he can't afford to make this play and lose.' Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who championed the ballot measure that created the independent redistricting commission, has not weighed in on the mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas and California. But a spokesperson for the former governor made clear that he vehemently opposes both. Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has fought for independent map-drawing across the nation. Redistricting is among the political reforms that are the focus of the Schwarzenegger Institute at USC. 'His take on all of this is everyone learned in preschool or kindergarten that two wrongs don't make a right. He thinks gerrymandering is evil,' said Daniel Ketchell, a spokesperson for Schwarzenegger. 'It takes power from the people and gives it to politicians. He thinks it's evil, no matter where they do it.' Wilner reported from Washington, Nelson and Mehta from Los Angeles and Luna from Sacramento.
The Hill
23 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump eyes additional barriers to solar and wind energy
The Trump administration is eyeing additional barriers to the development of solar and wind energy on public lands. In a memo made public late Friday, the administration said that it would seek to block projects that take up a lot of room, calling wind and solar 'highly inefficient uses of Federal land.' The memo said that the administration would 'only permit those energy projects that are the most appropriate land use when compared to a reasonable range of project alternatives.' In doing so, it will put together a report of further actions that are needed to accomplish this goal. 'Gargantuan, unreliable, intermittent energy projects hold America back from achieving U.S. Energy Dominance while weighing heavily on the American taxpayer and environment,' said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a written statement. The renewable industry balked at the effort – saying it could have significant impacts on developing wind and solar on public lands. 'Depending on how it's ultimately implemented, it could have serious implications for new projects moving forward,' said Gene Grace, general counsel for the American Clean Power Association, a renewable lobbying group. John Hensley, the organization's senior vice president for Markets and Policy Analysis, also said that while wind and solar projects may be large, that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad for the environment. 'In the case of wind and solar, they do require much larger total project footprints, but the amount of land that's actually disturbed…is a fraction of the total project size,' said Hensley noting that wind in particular is very efficient if you consider land that's actually disturbed rather than the entire size of a wind farm. It's the latest in a long string of actions taken by the Trump administration to hamper wind and solar, including on public lands. President Trump's big beautiful bill cut tax credits for these energy sources. Separate memos issued by the Trump administration said it would consider barring future wind projects and subject wind and solar to an elevated review process, which is likely to slow them down.
