Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told Newsmax on Monday that the Department of Justice's newly announced compliance review of Harvard University is the beginning of a broader effort to examine whether elite universities are unlawfully using foreign-funded financial aid programs that discriminate against American students.
On "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division, which she leads, is investigating whether Harvard's financial aid programs funded by China-based sources violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance.
"So last week, we learned that the Department of State issued some now publicly available declassified material that shows that there are $630 million of earmarked contributions from Chinese sources to Harvard," Dhillon said.
She said those contributions are "in addition to several billion from other countries as well," but argued some of the money is "earmarked for Chinese recipients — not Chinese American, not Americans, but Chinese recipients."
"And so that's problematic under Title VI," she said. "So, we've launched an investigation today to see the extent to which there are violations of federal law."
The Department of Justice announced Monday that it opened the compliance review to determine whether Harvard's China-based financial aid programs and practices exclude students who are U.S. citizens. The department emphasized it has not reached any conclusions and said the review stems from concerns raised in an audit of Harvard's foreign funding disclosures.
Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, colleges and universities must disclose foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more. According to DOJ, Harvard has reported receiving nearly $4.5 billion in foreign funding, including more than $630 million from China-based sources.
Dhillon argued that universities receiving federal funds cannot offer financial aid based on national origin.
"Harvard cannot take our federal tax dollars ... and then also discriminate against Americans," she said. "All the money that flows into Harvard from foreign sources must be made available to all without regard to national origin."
She also suggested the investigation could expand beyond Harvard.
"This is going to be an examination at Harvard, and you should stay tuned," Dhillon said. "There will be some of the other top institutions that are taking this foreign money as well."
Asked whether the issue extends beyond Harvard, Dhillon said, "It's pervasive."
"They are dependent on foreign students, foreign funding, foreign professorships, foreign-funded labs," she said, referring to major research universities. "God only knows what's happening to the sensitive research that's happening over there. And so, we are on alert on this. It's a national security issue."
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