Federal law requires American universities to disclose their foreign donors to the Department of Education. Under Donald Trump's first administration, that meant disclosing donors' names. But the Biden administration broke that precedent, releasing just the names of the countries where each donation originated.
The change is significant because, as our Alana Goodman reports, there's often a difference between the donor’s country of origin and the place from which the money flows. Take the University of Pennsylvania as a proof point.
In 2022 and 2023, the Ivy League institution reported to the federal government millions of dollars in contributions from donors in the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands. Penn's federal disclosures provide no further detail. The state of Pennsylvania, however, requires schools to report the names of foreign donors—and Penn's state-level disclosures show that the contributions in question came not from the Caribbean but from Chinese companies with ties to the CCP.
Penn and other universities reported receiving "over $600 million from donors in Bermuda, $280 million from Guernsey, $25 million from the British Virgin Islands, $25 million from the Bahamas, $17.5 million from Cayman Islands, and $11 million from the island of Jersey" during the Biden administration, reports Goodman. The true source of those funds is largely unknown, as other states do not share Pennsylvania's foreign donor disclosure requirements. Still, if Penn is any indication, a lot of the money likely traces back to China.
"The news comes as the Trump administration prepares to crack down on foreign influence on college campuses, following years of Biden administration policies that have shielded the names of foreign university donors from the public," writes Goodman. "Tax haven countries represented some of the largest sources of funding during that time, raising questions about transparency and where the actual money is coming from."
12 p.m. Saturday. That's the deadline, first floated by Trump and later confirmed by Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu, for Hamas to release nine Israeli hostages or face "hell."
Bibi followed in Trump’s footsteps and issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, hours after Hamas shuttered the next round of hostage releases. Trump responded to that development by reiterating that "all hell is going to break out" if Hamas does not reverse course. Bibi promised "intense combat until Hamas is decisively defeated" should the terror group fail to "return our hostages by Saturday noon."
"In light of Hamas' announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, last night I ordered the IDF to gather forces inside and around the Gaza Strip," he said. "This operation is being carried out at this time. It will be completed in the very near future."
"The ongoing developments highlight the ceasefire's fragility and reflect mounting frustration in Israel over Hamas’s treatment of the captives, including those who have already been released," the Free Beacon's Adam Kredo reports.
"Seventeen Israeli hostages are still scheduled to be freed during the first phase of a three-tiered agreement, though the prospects of this occurring are dim. Israel said it will not move forward with negotiations over the deal’s second phase until all of its hostages come home."
Democrats like Chris Murphy are upset with party leaders over their weak #Resistance to Trump 2.0. Some House members took matters into their own hands on Tuesday, holding a Capitol Hill rally to "Save the Civil Service." It didn't go well.
The Democrats, our Meghan Blonder writes, produced a series of cringeworthy moments. One freshman lawmaker, Oregon's Maxine Dexter, appeared to make a sexual advance toward the Don, saying, "We have to fuck Trump." Before delivering the line, she said, "I don't swear in public very well." You don’t say.
Another House Dem, Illinois's Jan Schakowsky, said she was "going to say 'fuck'" before clarifying, "I'm not going to say that." Instead, she said, "We are going to beat and we're going to pull [Trump] down." At other points, union leaders led the crowd in a series of a cappella songs that attacked Elon Musk. One song, carried to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, included the lyrics, "We'll fight against DOGE. We'll fight against Elon Musk."
"Last week, a CNN panel held back laughter after watching a montage of Democrats protesting against Trump and Musk," Blonder writes. "One clip showed Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) holding hands and chanting, 'We will win! We won’t rest!' during a Feb. 5 rally in front of the Department of the Treasury building."
"Liberal host Jimmy Kimmel also played the clip and said, 'Oh, we are so f—ed.'" Indeed.
Watch the lowlight reel here. Viewer discretion is advised.
Away from the Beacon:
- Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary best known for blocking oil and gas leases under the guise of the pseudoscience that is "indigenous knowledge," is running for governor of New Mexico.
- Goldman Sachs is abandoning its 2020 policy that forbid it from working on IPOs with companies that had "all white, all male boards," citing "legal developments related to board diversity requirements." Thanks, Ed Blum!
- DNC vice chair David Hogg, who got into Harvard with an SAT score that was 190 points lower than the scores of the bottom 25 percent of students admitted, is questioning whether the DOGE aide known as "Big Balls" "got there purely on merit." Pot, meet kettle.