{"id":1995353,"date":"2023-08-09T12:51:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T16:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/penn-biden-center-foreign-ties-fuel-lawsuit-over-higher-education-transparency\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T12:53:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T16:53:49","slug":"penn-biden-center-foreign-ties-fuel-lawsuit-over-higher-education-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/penn-biden-center-foreign-ties-fuel-lawsuit-over-higher-education-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit over transparency in higher education fueled by Penn Biden Center&#8217;s foreign ties."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpenn-biden-center-foreign-ties-fuel-lawsuit-over-higher-education-transparency%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1995353&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Lawsuit Filed \u2063Against the Department of Education<\/h2>\n<p>A conservative think tank, the\u200c Defense of Freedom\u200c Institute, \u2064has taken legal action against the Department of Education. The\u2063 lawsuit aims to compel the department to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oversight-cmte-sets-sights-on-environmental-justice-program\/\" title=\"Oversight Cmte sets sights on environmental justice program\">produce documents related<\/a> to its enforcement of Section 117\u200b of the Higher \u2062Education Act. This section requires universities to disclose donations from foreign entities.<\/p>\n<p>The Defense \u2064of Freedom Institute alleges that the department has failed\u200d to comply with two Freedom of \u2063Information Act requests seeking information on how Section 117 is being enforced. The \u200corganization\u2062 claims that the department\u200c has neglected its \u200bduty to enforce the statute.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Since 2021, the\u2062 Department has refused\u2063 to enforce Section 117 disclosure and transparency \u200brequirements against colleges\u2064 and universities,&#8221; the lawsuit states. &#8220;In part, \u2064DFI\u2019s FOIA requests are calculated to demonstrate \u2062the\u2064 Department\u2019s \u2064failure to ensure that institutions of higher \u200beducation comply with Section\u2062 117.\u2064 The Department\u2019s refusal to \u2063provide a full, \u2063comprehensive production of records \u2014 indeed, any \u200brecords \u2014 pursuant to DFI\u2019s FOIA requests underscores the apparent abandonment of Section 117 enforcement by the Department.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Investigating Chinese \u200cDonations<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, congressional investigators, led by the\u200b House Oversight Committee, are\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senator-demands-fbi-cooperate-in-an-investigation-into-fake-brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault-probe\/\" title=\"Senator Demands FBI Cooperate In An Investigation Into \u2018Fake\u2019 Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Probe\">seeking answers<\/a>\u200b regarding Chinese donations to the University of Pennsylvania, home to the Penn Biden\u2063 Center. The discovery of documents related to this issue sparked\u200c a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/penn-biden-center-foreign-ties-fuel-lawsuit-over-higher-education-transparency\/\" title=\"Lawsuit over transparency in higher education fueled by Penn Biden Center's foreign ties.\">special\u200d counsel investigation<\/a> into President\u200c Biden&#8217;s handling of classified materials.<\/p>\n<p>In a press release, the Defense of Freedom \u200cInstitute highlights\u2062 that the Department of Education \u2064halted the enforcement \u200bof\u2064 Section 117 shortly \u2063after the Biden administration assumed\u2063 office. The think tank\u2062 also points out that the University of \u200cPennsylvania \u200cexperienced a 400% increase\u2062 in foreign donations\u2064 after establishing the Penn Biden\u2063 Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;The Biden administration thinks it\u2019s above scrutiny,\u201d says\u2062 Bob \u200bEitel, the president and\u2063 co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute. &#8220;The\u2064 public \u2064has a legal right to \u200dknow who\u2019s influencing the administration on higher \u2062education issues that, frankly, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-pulls-65-pending-trump-executive-orders\/\" title=\"Biden Pulls 65 Pending Trump Executive Orders\">national security implications<\/a>.\u2064 DFI has demanded answers for nearly 18\u200c months\u200c to \u200dno avail.\u200c This lawsuit is a critical next step for \u200bDFI\u2019s \u2064oversight work,\u200b which seeks to shine a light on the\u200d role\u200d played by foreign\u2062 interests and self-interested lobbyists in \u200dthe administration\u2019s education policy-making.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Under the Trump administration and \u2063Secretary Betsy DeVos in 2020, the Department\u2064 of Education released a comprehensive report revealing that U.S. \u2063universities had failed to \u200bdisclose $6.5 billion in foreign gifts. \u2062The department also introduced an online portal \u2062for universities to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/newt-gingrich-the-shame-of-the-universities\/\" title=\"Newt Gingrich: The Shame of the Universities\">report foreign gifts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last\u200d year, the American Council on Education expressed gratitude to Department of Education officials for closing all investigations initiated by the Trump administration and for their commitment \u2062to addressing concerns with the existing\u2064 reporting portal.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Examiner \u2064has reached out to the White House and the Department of Education \u2064for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, a conservative think tank sued the Department of Education, urging them to release documents regarding their enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. This section mandates universities to disclose donations from foreign entities. The Defense of Freedom Institute filed the lawsuit, seeking a court order for document production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1995354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}