Education Dept Launches Probe Into Foreign Donations at Penn

The Education Department says its investigating foreign donations at the University of Pennsylvania.

"UPenn has a troubling Section 117 compliance history, having failed to disclose any foreign funding until February of 2019 despite a decades-long statutory obligation to do so," Acting General Counsel Tom Wheeler said in a statement.

"Although the previous Administration degraded the Department's enforcement of universities' legal obligations to disclose foreign gifts and contracts, the Trump Administration will vigorously uphold the law and ensure universities are transparent with their foreign gifts and investments."

Universities are required to report any foreign gifts or contracts valued at $250,000 or more per year to the federal agency.

The department's Office of the General Counsel is requesting records from Penn.

Last month, the Trump administration sought Harvard University's records on foreign funding going back a decade.

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