{"slug": "doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations", "title": "DOJ official flags Stanford for scrutiny over foreign donations", "summary": "The U.S. Justice Department is intensifying scrutiny of Stanford University over foreign donations and international student and admissions practices, according to Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division. Dhillon said Stanford is not being singled out for political reasons but because her department is staffing up, and noted that Stanford ranks fourth among U.S. universities in foreign funding from countries of concern. Stanford said it conducts rigorous due diligence on all gifts and sponsored research, with enhanced scrutiny for international sources.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...**By Liam Knox and Janet Lorin | Bloomberg News**\n\n[Stanford University](http://www.mercurynews.com/tag/stanford-university) is facing increased scrutiny from the Justice Department over donations from foreign sources and its practices around international students and admissions, according to a senior agency official.\n\n**RELATED: Trump rule puts new limits on how long Bay Area international students can stay**\n\nHarmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said Monday during an interview at Bloomberg’s Washington office that the department is gearing up to examine the university’s foreign funding policies more closely. Her department already opened an investigation into [admissions practices at Stanford’s medical school](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/03/27/us-probes-stanfords-medical-school-over-admission-policy-report-says/) in March.\n\nThe Trump administration has been hammering elite universities and colleges, including Harvard and Columbia, over allegations of antisemitism and discriminatory admissions practices. Stanford hasn’t received the same level of scrutiny that the Trump administration directed at many of its peers.\n\nStanford isn’t getting passed over “because of their virtue,” Dhillon said in a wide-ranging interview. “It’s because I am staffing up.”\n\nStanford receives the fourth-highest level of funding from foreign sources in “countries of concern” among US universities, according to data from the Department of Education.\n\nDhillon also expressed concern over funding for professors’ work and for laboratories that deal with potentially sensitive information from a national security perspective.\n\n“I think it’s fairly obvious which of our elite institutions have a high proportion of foreign funding,” Dhillon said. “Stanford has a high proportion of foreign students from Asia and foreign funding.”\n\nStanford said in a statement that it conducts “rigorous due diligence for all philanthropic gifts and sponsored research, with enhanced scrutiny applied to international sources, particularly those from countries of concern.” The university said it reviews “restricted party screening, assessment of ties to foreign governments, and evaluation of research security implications, among other measures.”\n\nStanford also said it reserves the right to decline any gift — domestic or international — if the source of funds raises legal or ethical concerns.\n\nIn June, Dhillon’s office launched a probe into Harvard University over possible foreign influence in its financial aid decisions. Dhillon said she plans to investigate more colleges over similar issues.\n\n**RELATED: Stanford, UC Berkeley rank among world’s top universities as research funding faces cuts**\n\nAfter being sworn in last year, Dhillon sent letters to 50 top institutions of higher learning, scrutinizing their undergraduate admissions practices. She followed those with more letters seeking information from law and medical schools.\n\nThe Trump administration froze federal funding to more than half a dozen universities before Dhillon was sworn in, but she eventually took on a leading role in negotiating settlements to restore it, including with Cornell University, she said.\n\nHarvard, which is still locked in a legal battle with the administration over the freeze, has yet to make a deal with the administration, and the DOJ has continued to open lawsuits and investigations into the school. Dhillon said that while talks had slowed, she still sees a path to a possible settlement.\n\nMore stories like this are available on [bloomberg.com](https://www.bloomberg.com)\n\n©2026 Bloomberg L.P.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/08/17/stanford-university-justice-department-scrutiny-foreign-donations/", "published_at": "2026-08-17 23:50:09+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-18 00:11:23.004648+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Stanford University", "U.S. Justice Department", "Harmeet Dhillon", "Civil Rights Division", "Harvard University", "Columbia University", "Cornell University", "Department of Education"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/doj-official-flags-stanford-for-scrutiny-over-foreign-donations.jsonld"}}