Education Department Demands Records on Foreign Funding to Harvard

The Department of Education asked Harvard to turn over records on donations from foreign sources on Friday, alleging that the University inaccurately disclosed foreign gifts.

In a nine-page letter addressed to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, the Education Department alleged that Harvard’s disclosures of foreign funding were “incomplete and inaccurate.”

“As a recipient of federal funding, Harvard University must be transparent about its relations with foreign sources and governments. Unfortunately, our review indicated that Harvard has not been fully transparent or complete in its disclosures, which is both unacceptable and unlawful,” said Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon in a press release.

Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, all U.S. institutions are required to report financial gifts valued at more than $250,000 on an annual basis — a requirement that the Department of Education alleged Harvard had skimped on.

In the letter, the Education Department demanded that Harvard release a list of gifts, grants, and contracts from foreign sources, communications between Harvard and foreign governments, and internal correspondence about expelled foreign students and faculty affiliated with or from a foreign country.

It also asked Harvard to share the names, contact information, and backgrounds of Harvard affiliates who are “from or affiliates with foreign governments and foreign individuals.”

Harvard received $151 million from foreign government sources between January 2020 and October 2024.

The Friday probe marks a renewed effort by the Department of Education to scrutinize Harvard’s handling of federal funding. In February 2020, the Department launched an investigation into Harvard’s reporting practices for foreign gifts, citing inadequate “institutional controls” for tracking and disclosing such contributions.

That inquiry ended in December 2024, with Harvard agreeing to provide updated disclosures for gifts between 2014 and 2019 and implement new “procedures and systems” to comply with Section 117 — but on Friday the Department alleged that Harvard had breached that agreement.

The Friday announcement is the latest in the Trump administration’s week-long salvo against Harvard — and comes at the heels of a Republican-led civil rights probe, plans to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, and a $2.2 billion federal funding cut on Monday over allegations of campus antisemitism.

Harvard has until May 17, 2025 to provide the requested documents.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.