Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members enrolled in U.S. universities have established overseas party branches on American campuses supported by their Chinese alma maters, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.

Chinese academic announcements reveal CCP members connected to two universities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have founded overseas party branches at Oklahoma State University (OSU), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the University of Colorado-Denver (UCD), which aren’t registered as official student groups at the U.S. institutions. The DCNF identified more than two dozen CCP members connected to these overseas party branches, some of whom are now pursuing graduate degrees at other U.S. institutions including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to academic records and LinkedIn profiles.

President Donald Trump announced in August that his administration would allow 600,000 Chinese nationals to study in the U.S. When asked about his decision during an Aug. 29, exclusive interview with the Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese, Trump said revoking student visas for Chinese students would “hurt the system” and negatively impact “lesser colleges,” adding that “China’s paying us a lot of money right now. They’re paying us hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Republican lawmakers, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have criticized Trump’s plan, with Arizona Rep. Eli Crane characterizing the proposal as a “massive national security threat.”

“[T]he CCP manipulates our university partnerships, driving its military advancements through U.S. taxpayer-funded research and joint U.S.-PRC institutes,” Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar told the DCNF.

“It’s clear: without stronger safeguards, Beijing can gain access to sensitive research with clear military and dual-use applications. We must find a balance — we can welcome the world’s best and brightest while also protecting American values from foreign influence and technology transfer,” said Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP.

[Image created by DCNF with NWAFU photos]

‘The Sons And Daughters Of The CCP’

CCP members from China’s second largest agricultural university, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU), operate an overseas party branch at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and openly brag that the program adheres to socialist ideology, according to NWAFU announcements translated by the DCNF.

A “party branch” is the smallest “grass-roots” CCP organization, and is required in Chinese institutions containing three or more party members, according to a DCNF translation of an announcement from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which is China’s state organ for legal supervision.

UNL’s Department of Food Science and Technology welcomed its first batch of 55 students from NWAFU’s College of Food Science and Engineering in September 2015 as part of a joint “3+1 Program” allowing the Chinese university’s students to study in Nebraska during their senior year, according to a UNL announcement. Three years later, NWAFU announced it would establish an overseas party branch in May 2018, laying the groundwork for its branch at UNL.

While it does not appear that all NWAFU students participating in the 3+1 Program have been CCP members, NWAFU announcements have identified the names of at least 13 students in UNL’s overseas party branch over the years. At least five are still at UNL, LinkedIn profiles and the university’s website indicate.

Over the years, Chinese-language NWAFU announcements have become increasingly candid about how the school advances the party’s ideological goals through its overseas party branches.

NWAFU recently praised the work of UNL’s overseas party branch during a July 2025 CCP meeting in China detailing how the school injects the CCP’s ideology “deep into the student body” through activities in both China and abroad, which, among others, have included “inviting the college’s party committee members and instructors of ideological and political education courses from the School of Marxism to go deep into the party branches to teach special party lectures to strengthen ideological foundations,” according to a DCNF translation of a NWAFU announcement.

One UNL overseas party branch member attending the July 2025 meeting said that the Nebraska overseas CCP branch considered “food security” to be the “mission” of the 3+1 Program, according to a DCNF translation of the NWAFU announcement. The joint program also provides an opportunity to “educate people for the party” and “tell China’s stories in English,” the CCP members stated at the meeting.

NWAFU convenes pre-departure meetings for students in the 3+1 Program to discuss topics like “patriotism,” and once abroad its CCP committee holds virtual political and ideological seminars with overseas party branch members, according to DCNF translations of the university’s announcements.

The Chinese university “prioritizes the development of strong patriotic feelings” and “creates temporary overseas Communist Youth League and party branches,” an October 2022 NWAFU announcement about the UNL overseas party branch’s activities states, according to a DCNF translation.

One NWAFU overseas party branch member, “Kayla” Yu Yafan, who is now a UNL biochemistry graduate research assistant, according to the Nebraska university’s website, said it was the duty of overseas Chinese students to “repay the party and country with knowledge,” according to a DCNF translation of a December 2021 NWAFU announcement.

UNL and Yu did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“No matter where we are, remember the blood of the Chinese people flows through our veins. We are Chinese, the sons and daughters of the CCP,” Yu said, according to a DCNF translation of the announcement.

NWAFU identifies one overseas party branch member as Peng Bo, whom UNL’s Department of Food Science and Technology lists as a PhD student. “[We must] always retain a high-degree of unity with the CCP Central Committee,” Peng said during an October 2021 party branch event in China, which included virtual participants, according to a DCNF translation of a NWAFU announcement.

Peng did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Several NWAFU overseas CCP branch members have also transferred from UNL to graduate programs at other U.S. institutions, like the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a LinkedIn profile and NWAFU announcements.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I) has likewise absorbed three NWAFU overseas CCP members from UNL’s party branch including “Shane” Fei Shengyi, who is enrolled there as a Molecular & Cellular Biology Department PhD student.

Fei, U of I and University of Wisconsin did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The CCP often directs Chinese students within American universities to expropriate sensitive research “back to Beijing,” Kate Bierly, a higher education policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the DCNF.

“These individuals have pledged loyalty to a party openly working to strengthen America’s greatest adversary,” Bierly warned. “That creates a clear national security risk and we are leaving the door wide open.”

Multiple NWAFU announcements spotlighting Fei’s academic career include photos showing him wearing fatigues during military training.

While the extent of Fei’s military experience is unclear, NWAFU announcements show other students training with gas masks, automatic rifles and mock grenades during military boot camps that “most” Chinese university students are required to undergo during their freshman year, according to Chinese state media.

“Any party-state or PLA military presence on campus is anathema to the purpose of American higher education,” Nebraska Democratic State Sen. Eliot Bostar told the DCNF. “All universities should cut ties with all predacious CCP entities.”

Bostar introduced LB644, a bill targeting CCP covert influence operations in his state, which Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed into law in June 2025. Once in effect on Oct. 1st, LB644 will require agents of adversary nations, like China, to register or potentially face civil and criminal penalties, according to its text.

“CCP cells are an absolute no-go, and anything tied to the Chinese military is beyond the pale,” Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, a nonprofit focused on countering the CCP, told the DCNF. “Both state and federal policymakers need to take the universities to task so that our intellectual centers stop allowing themselves to be exploited.”

“Communist Party members should not be on American campuses,” said Lucci. “Universities have absolutely failed and have not even been looking for these obvious security vulnerabilities.”

[Image created by DCNF with CAU photos]

‘Clear National Security Risk’

The International College of Beijing (ICB) at China Agricultural University (CAU) also operates overseas party branches at both UCD and OSU, according to the Chinese institutions.

ICB’s website states it was founded as “the result of a joint venture educational program” between itself and UCD.

As with NWAFU, ICB also directs overseas party branch members to spread CCP propaganda.

During a December 2016 ICB meeting held in China, the college’s party committee instructed overseas party branch members to refine how they “tell China’s story to American classmates and talk about CCP history,” according to a DCNF translation of an ICB announcement.

All ICB students in the UCD program must first complete political and ideological prerequisite courses, “love the motherland and support party leadership,” even if they are not overseas party branch members, according to a DCNF translation of an ICB announcement.

ICB posts identify the names of at least nine students in UCD’s overseas party branch as well as at least three in the OSU branch.

CAU is one of OSU’s “direct partners” in Asia and the schools run study abroad and dual degree programs together, according to OSU’s website.

ICB party branch members at OSU also actively engage in pro-party activities on campus, such as holding an October 2017 event to watch the CCP’s 19th National Congress, according to an ICB announcement. Accompanying photos from the gathering show at least eight individuals watching a Chinese state-run broadcast in what appears to be the John C. & Kathryn A. Williams study room within OSU’s Edmon Low Library.

“Members of the CCP studying at American universities are a real threat to our nation’s safety,” Indiana Republican State Rep. Matt Commons told the DCNF.

“Taxpayer dollars fund our public universities, and it’s a disservice to taxpayers to use their money to train the CCP,” said Commons, who is writing a bill banning Chinese students and others from adversary nations from enrolling in A.I. and science-related programs. “They play the system, hide their ties, and use our schools to get access to the best research in the world — research they can later use against us.”

OSU and UCD did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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