The Department of Education on Tuesday announced a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM), citing “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in the school’s foreign reports and pointing to the school’s history of ties to China.
Chief Investigative Counsel Paul Moore for the department’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) alleged that tens of millions of dollars in foreign funding in UM’s disclosure reports have been “reported in an untimely manner and appear to erroneously identify some of UM’s foreign funders as ‘nongovernmental entities,’ even though the foreign funders seem to be directly affiliated with foreign governments.”
The department noted that federal law requires postsecondary institutions that receive federal dollars to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more annually.
“OGC will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the American people know the true scope of foreign funding and influence on our campuses,” Moore said.
The department pointed to UM’s previous ties with China, as well as criminal charges brought last month alleging that two Chinese nationals with loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party smuggled a type of fungus classified as “a potential agroterrorism weapon” into the U.S. to conduct research at a laboratory at UM.
In January 2025, UM ended a twenty-year partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a prominent university in China, after Chairman John Moolenaar of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a letter to UM raising national security concerns about the relationship between UM and its joint institute with the university. The committee specifically identified China’s capacity to use joint research with UM to bolster the Chinese military’s “most sensitive defense programs, including nuclear weapons, carrier rockets, satellites, nuclear submarines, and fighter jets…”
“International academic partnerships have deeply enriched our academic offerings and strengthened the global education of our students, and we will continue to pursue partnerships around the world as part of our academic mission. As we do so, we must also prioritize our commitment to national security,” UM President Santa J. Ono said at the time, confirming the end of the partnership after discussions with congressional leadership.
However, in June 2025, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, for conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud.
The DOJ said the FBI arrested Jian related to allegations of the pair smuggling a fungus into the U.S. called Fusarium graminearum, a “noxious fungus” which can cause “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barely, maize, and rice that “is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year,” according to the agency. The fungus can also be dangerous to humans and livestock and cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects.
The complaint alleges that Jian was funded by the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen in China and that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, worked at a Chinese university where he researches the same pathogen. The complaint further alleges that Liu first lied and then admitted to smuggling the fungus through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to conduct research on it at UM’s laboratory, where his girlfriend worked.
“Despite the University of Michigan’s history of downplaying its vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence, recent reports reveal that UM’s research laboratories remain vulnerable to sabotage, including what the U.S. Department of Justice recently described in criminal charges as ‘potential agroterrorism’ by Chinese nationals affiliated with UM,” Moore said. “As the recipient of federal research funding, UM has both a moral and legal obligation to be completely transparent about its foreign partnerships.”
UM did not respond to Breitbart News’s request for comment by time of publication.
The Department of Education said the investigation is part of the Trump administration’s effort to uphold President Donald Trump’s executive order called “Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities” aimed at making colleges and universities comply with federal disclosure laws on foreign funding.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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