Federal agencies investigate University of North Dakota for reporting of foreign funding

The U.S. Department of Education and State Department are investigating the University of North Dakota for failing to properly report foreign gifts and contracts, the federal agencies announced Wednesday.

Federal reviews of university records found incomplete, inaccurate and untimely disclosures of foreign funding sources, the Department of Education said in a Tuesday letter to UND. 

The letter highlights UND’s School of Aerospace and funding from Chinese aviation companies.

The departments directed UND to respond to a significant records request within 30 days. Failure to comply could lead to civil actions to recoup the costs of investigation and enforcement and put the university’s participation in federal student aid programs in jeopardy, according to a news release. 

In a statement, UND indicated it takes foreign funding reporting requirements seriously and is committed to compliance.

“We will work diligently with the Department of Education and other federal agencies to provide the requested information in a timely manner and address the alleged concerns,” the university said, with officials declining to comment further.

North Dakota Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer discussed the investigation Thursday during an interview with KNOX Radio in Grand Forks. Cramer said China represents a “real threat” and national security officials are “hyper-sensitive” to Chinese influence.

Cramer said there were not any “big alarms” that went off in his mind after looking into the allegations.

“I suspect the work to respond is going to be intense,” Cramer said. He added he has confidence that UND will remain in good standing with the federal government.

The investigation focuses on requirements for universities to annually disclose foreign gifts and contracts of $250,000 or more. 

The Department of Education said UND provided no foreign funding disclosures prior to July 2020. Since that time, the university has reported 71 qualifying transactions totaling about $98 million, with a “substantial number” involving Chinese aviation companies.

Of the $98 million in foreign funding sources to UND since 2020, nearly $50 million came from Chinese entities, $28.8 million was received from Japanese sources and more than $16 million was funded from entities tied to Saudi Arabia, according to a Department of Education funding dashboard.

The department also said UND incorrectly identified a foreign source entity as a foreign individual. The letter notes that UND is “well-resourced” to comply with reporting requirements and alleges the disparities “suggest systemic failures.”

“The failure to report for a couple years is somewhat problematic,” Cramer said in the radio interview. “It also highlights just how critically important it is, and always has been, that we divorce ourselves with any possibility of malign interests by the People’s Republic of China.” 

Sen. Jonathan Sickler, R-Grand Forks, chair of the interim Higher Education Institutions Committee, said he expects the investigation will be raised during a committee hearing at UND on Tuesday.

“My sense is that this is more of a reporting error issue more than anything more substantive at this point,” Sickler said.

He said it is too early to gauge whether the investigation will require any potential changes to state law.

Interactions with China have evolved over the past 30 years, Sickler said. He added there was a lot of cooperation and partnerships, especially with UND’s aerospace program, established in the 1990s that look a lot different over the past few years as the U.S. posture concerning China has changed.

Duke University in North Carolina is also under investigation by the Department of Education related to its partnership with China’s Wuhan University.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Michael Achterling can be reached at [email protected].