(Excerpts from Higher Ed Dive)

• The American Council on Education told Senate leaders this week it has concerns about recent federal proposals that would create stricter requirements for colleges' reporting of foreign gifts and contracts.
• Among the measures ACE is objecting to is one that would amend the Higher Education Act. Institutions would need to disclose any foreign donation or contract of $50,000 or more in a year, down from a threshold of $250,000.
• Provisions to strengthen colleges' reporting mandates are incorporated in legislation, the Endless Frontier Act,being fast-tracked in the Senate. While ACE supports parts of the bill that mean to invest more in science and technology research, it is “deeply concerned" about others, its president, Ted Mitchell, wrote in a letter to Senate leaders this week.
• Lowering the reporting threshold to $50,000 would “vastly" increase the number of donations and contracts that colleges would need to report, Mitchell wrote, “needlessly" involving community colleges and small private schools, “even though the risks posed by such small gifts or contracts are minimal."
• Colleges would need to maintain a searchable database of these financial transactions and have a plan in place to combat a foreign entity attempting to gather information “through espionage."