DETERRENT Act

The DETERRENT Act would expand transparency and oversight of foreign funding at U.S. colleges and universities. Currently, institutions must report foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more, but this bill would lower that threshold to $50,000 for most countries and require reporting of any gifts from designated countries of concern (China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia). The bill would also prohibit colleges from entering contracts with these countries of concern without special approval from the Department of Education, and would require faculty and staff to disclose individual gifts from foreign sources to their institutions.

The bill would create a searchable public database maintained by the Department of Education containing all reported foreign gifts and contracts. Additionally, colleges with large endowments (over $6 billion) or significant foreign investments would need to file annual investment disclosure reports. The bill aims to address concerns about foreign influence on university research and intellectual property, citing investigations that uncovered tens of millions of dollars in unreported contracts with foreign entities.