(Excerpts from Inside Higher Ed News)

• Congress’s next move to limit partnerships with China could target America’s top colleges and universities—shutting down their investments in Chinese companies that “have been deemed an unacceptable national security risk,” Politico reported Friday.
• Representative Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican, is drafting a piece of legislation called the Protecing Endowments From our Adversaries Act, which would encourage divestment from entities listed on the U.S. government sanction list, which includes companies that have engaged in activity that opposes national “security or foreign policy interest.”
• The bill could impact any private college or university with an endowment worth at least $1 billion, which includes Harvard and Yale Universities and other institutions, none of which responded when approached for comment by Inside Higher Ed.
• According to sources familiar with the matter, it is uncommon practice for universities to have investments in entities that are flagged as a national security concern, and there is little economic benefit to these universities to invest in such
• Yale University announcedin January 2021 that it would be reviewing its $42.3 billion endowment for any possible investments in entities contributing to Chinese human rights
• When approached for comment on the legislation, Pedro Ribeiro, vice president for the Association of American Universities, which represents the nation’s top research universities, said, “We are currently reviewing the legislation and share Representative Murphy’s goal of protecting our national security and defending human rights. AAU universities are at the forefront of innovation that drives not only our economy but also our national health and security. We are committed to working with Congress to protect our immensely important work from undue foreign”