The Debate Over Foreign Money in Higher Education

Regarding Craig Singleton's op-ed 'Higher Ed's Secret Foreign Funding' (Sept. 1): The American Council on Education and the higher education community take seriously our obligation to safeguard important research work against malign foreign actors and have been working for years to achieve this goal in collaboration with national security and law enforcement agencies. Mr. Singleton argues for disclosing the names of all individual donors. This call neglects current law, the Constitution and common sense. When Congress passed legislation mandating disclosure of foreign gifts to colleges and universities, it didn't include the names of individual donors as part of what is to be released. The Education Department's attempts to add that requirement fly in the face of congressional intent and also are likely a violation of the First Amendment, given a recent Supreme Court decision finding a religious nonprofit organization in New Jersey didn't have to disclose individual donor names.