Higher ed’s push to import students poses a substantial risk to national security and the future of academia
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CounterCurrent:
The Risks of Internationalizing American Colleges
Higher ed’s push to import students poses a substantial risk to national security and the future of academia
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: Current Events, Foreign Funding, Higher Ed;
Reading Time: ~4 minutes
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** Featured Article: The Takeover ([link removed])
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Will internationalization be the quiet revolution that takes over American higher education?
Neetu Arnold, Research Fellow at the National Association of Scholars (NAS), ponders this in her Tablet Magazine debut ([link removed]) . Her well-researched and thoughtful insight into the internationalization of academia is eye-opening—and should put academics on high alert to the potential dangers of international partnerships.
Colleges and universities have become havens for many anti-American and anti-Western international students, and this internationalization brings a new flavor of protests to American campuses. Case in point being the anti-Israel activism on American college and university campuses since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. “So what changed?” asks Arnold,
The answer is clear to anyone who watched the videos: these student protests are no longer composed solely of left-wing American students steeped in critical theory and post-colonial ideology. The protests are now havens for foreign students, especially those from Arab and Muslim countries, with their own set of nationalist and tribal grievances against Israel and the United States. In some cases, such foreign students appear to lead ([link removed]) the protests in their pro-terrorism chants ([link removed]) —some of which are in Arabic ([link removed]) , or translations of Arabic slogans.
From 1948 to 2000, the number of international students enrolled in American colleges and universities increased from 25,000 to 500,000. But within 15 years, that number doubled. Arnold presents the alarming statistics, “Today, there are more than one million foreign students ([link removed]) enrolled at American universities, making up more than 5% of the total student population. At elite universities, the situation is much more extreme: international students make up almost 25% of the student population.”
Seemingly small in number, a deeper examination reveals American higher education's motivation for admitting numerous international students is twofold: first, they serve as “cash cows,” and second, they conveniently align with and fulfill college and university DEI goals.
International students are paying disproportionately high out-of-state tuition and housing rates compared to local American students. This money often comes from foreign governments, which should be reported to the U.S. government but often is not. And DEI recruitment, Arnold argues, “also provides universities with a moral justification for their equivocating response to egregious—and perhaps even illegal ([link removed]) —acts by international students in recent months.”
NAS has done extensive research into the relationship between foreign funding and our colleges and universities. Already, we have uncovered ties with the Chinese government ([link removed]) , Qatar ([link removed]) , and other Middle Eastern ([link removed]) countries. In addition, we have called out ([link removed]) the lack of transparency ([link removed]) in disclosing foreign funding by higher education institutions. Colleges and universities are technically required by law to disclose gifts of over $250,000 per year, but many find loopholes or simply fail to report inflow of foreign dollars, and there are usually no consequences imposed by the government. With no enforcement or accountability, comes the danger of under the table deals and risk to national security.
Funding for international studies centers on American college and university campuses, sponsorships, and gifts always comes with strings attached. Students from China, Saudi Arabia, and others are either spied on or spy for their home governments—sometimes both—and do so because of nationalistic pride or fear of retribution to themselves or their families.
The final straw comes when the internationalization of academia hurts American students and taxpayers. Though many international students are charged out-of-state tuition rates, many institutions will step in and offer institutional aid—which by 2016, was nearly 50% of American colleges and universities. The Ivy Leagues are among the top offenders. “[T]he average institutional aid for international undergraduates at Ivy League universities ranges from $44,000 to $79,000. The median percentage of international students receiving this aid is 50%.” It is worth noting that some public universities do not give international students institutional aid. Though some are starting to follow Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Austin’s crusade to subsidize in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants ([link removed](H.B.)%201403,access%20to%20in%2Dstate%20tuition) . This is a direct affront to American students, who often
plunge into life-altering amounts of debt to pursue higher education, while international students reap the benefits funded by taxpayer money instead.
There is no better way to conclude than with Arnold’s own words, “In the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, higher education administrators continue to offer special treatment to international students—covering for hateful, and possibly illegal, behavior in order to protect a valuable source of revenue. It’s time for this dangerous arrangement to end.”
Until next week.
P.S. You can follow Neetu Arnold on X ([link removed]) (formerly Twitter) to stay up to date about this research and other higher education news. You can also follow the National Association of Scholars ([link removed]) and other staff members to stay up to date on current issues. But also make sure to read Neetu’s full article ([link removed]) .
Kali Jerrard
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read the Article ([link removed])
For more on current events, foreign funding, and higher ed:
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December 15, 2023
** Nazism, Anti-Semitism, and Today’s Islamo-Fascism at American Universities ([link removed])
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Timothy Jackson
[T]here is a ubiquitous tendency to view everything in terms of the present, as if the eliminationist anti-Semitism we are currently witnessing at American colleges and universities in general, and at elite institutions in particular, arose suddenly ...
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September 27, 2022
** Report: Hijacked ([link removed])
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Neetu Arnold
America’s Middle East Studies Centers were originally founded to study the politics, culture, and language of Middle Eastern nations. But our analyses and case studies demonstrate that Middle East centers have since shifted their focus to promoting left-wing ideologies.
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September 12, 2022
** Report: Outsourced to Qatar ([link removed])
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Neetu Arnold
This case study reveals how Qatar uses partnerships with American universities to advance its own interests and values.
** About the NAS
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