Education Department asks University of Alabama for report on funding from Chinese groups

The Education Department is asking the University of Alabama to provide records of contracts, gifts or donation agreements with any China-funded company or institution flagged by the agency – amid an allegation the school failed to report a partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The request was made in a letter dated Tuesday and follows the department’s discovery earlier this year that the university’s name was on the WIV’s website, according to the Epoch Times. 

The university on Wednesday told the news outlet it reviewed the matter and “found no ties or connection between UA and WIV, and no reason for UA to be listed on the website.”

The letter from the department's principal deputy general counsel also points out the Higher Education Act of 1965 states institutions of higher education are required to report any gifts or contracts “from or with a foreign source.”

It also requested within 30 days “true copies of each gift or donation agreement, contract, and/or conditional gift or donation agreement” the university had with the dozens of  companies or institutions listed by the department.