'Give Me An Example': Michael Baumgartner Puts College Official On Blast For Dodging Question

5 months ago

During a House Education Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) asked Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley Dr. Rich Lyons about disclosing foreign money that the University may receive.

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00:00I thank the gentleman. I recognize the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Baumgartner.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, it very much pains me what has happened to higher education in America

00:12and its current status. I'm the son of a university professor. Actually, I spent a year in between WSU

00:17and Harvard teaching at the Catholic University of Mozambique, living and working with the

00:22Jesuits, so I have a strong affinity for the Jesuits. But the radical leftward bent of America's

00:28higher education system that's accelerated in the last five years has been extremely concerning.

00:35The diversity statements that many college administrators have forced their faculty

00:41hires through to promote even more of a radical ideology, I think, is very destructive. And I

00:47think what you're seeing from Congress these days is representation that the American people have

00:52very much lost trust, or large segments of the American people have very much lost trust in

00:57higher education, and that trust needs to be restored. It is my belief that one of those

01:03ways that trust could be restored would be to fully account for any foreign influence or foreign spending

01:12on your college campuses. And Dr. Groves, I'd like to start with you. Does Georgetown fully account,

01:19and is Georgetown fully transparent with foreign money spent on your campus?

01:24We certainly attempt to report all of our receipts from non-U.S. sources. One measure of that was with

01:37regard to Section 117 reporting, that there was an investigation of Georgetown along with other universities.

01:46And after months of reviewing the data we had submitted to the Department of Education, we received

01:55a letter commending us for our reporting. This is in 2021-2022.

02:02And can you commit right now to the American people that every dollar of foreign spending

02:06you will be transparent? I would be happy to commit to that.

02:10Okay, thank you. Dr. Lyons, could you talk to us about foreign spending on the University of Berkeley's

02:18campus? Do you do you think the American people have the right to know if foreign dollars are being

02:22spent on your campus? We, like other universities, we're very, very careful about any foreign monies that

02:30come into the University. The University is funded across many, many different sources. And we are very,

02:38very careful to vet countries of concern, as America's interests would require us to.

02:46And you would commit to full transparency of foreign spending on your campus?

02:50Well, as a public University, I am not ready to commit to that on the fly.

02:57There are different donors to the University who request anonymity.

03:02What do you think that says to the American people when you want to hide foreign influence

03:05on your college campus? Do you think that restores trust?

03:07I can assure you, and what I'd be very, very happy to be very transparent about,

03:12is exactly what is our process for vetting those things. We say no to a lot of foreign money. I promise

03:17you that. Give me an example of foreign money you've said no to.

03:19I'm not in a position to provide that information, but I'm very happy to be fully transparent.

03:26But you could understand at a time when large segments of the American population has seen

03:31university campuses go ever farther left-wing and more radical, and there's a deep concern about

03:38foreign influence on college campuses, lack of ability for Americans, high school graduates to

03:47be able to get spots on college campuses. You could understand why it would be concerning to have

03:51a university president come before Congress and say, we don't want to be fully transparent about foreign

03:55influence. I want to be fully transparent about the process by which we make sure that our process has

04:02integrity and that we are acting in America's best interests.

04:07But why if a foreign government wants to put money onto your campus, wouldn't you be willing to tell

04:12lawmakers, the American people about that? Well, my understanding is that there are in fact

04:16currently a lot of disclosure requirements around that, although it's not an area of my specific expertise.

04:21I think we disclose an awful lot of that information to the government currently.

04:25Okay. Well, I'm just going to ask you one more time. Do you commit today to being fully transparent

04:30every dollar of foreign spending that takes place on your college campus you would let the American

04:34people know about? I am glad to bring that back with my team and consider it, but I'm not ready to

04:42make that commitment today. I yield back, Mr. Chair. I thank the gentlemen. I recognize the gentlelady.

'Give Me An Example': Michael Baumgartner Puts College Official On Blast For Dodging Question

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