WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are raising concerns foreign espionage at American universities, with witnesses sharing firsthand accounts during a House hearing Wednesday.
Republicans on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce warned that academic institutions could be vulnerable to exploitation by foreign adversaries.
“We must ensure that academic collaboration strengthens America, not our adversaries,” said Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich).
During the hours-long hearing, witnesses described what they say are real-world examples of foreign interference.
Elsa Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Stanford Review, testified what she described as a personal encounter with an alleged Chinese operative; an experience she wrote in her university’s student paper.
After exposing her interaction with the operative who’d posed as a student, she began to receive intimidating phone calls.
Johnson said she later received confirmation from the FBI that she and her family were being monitored by agents of the Chinese Communist Party.
“Nothing meaningful has changed,” Johnson said. “The university has not established a reporting mechanism for transnational pressure. It has not provided resources for students targeted by foreign governments.”
The hearing follows several high-profile incidents, including a 2025 case at the University of Michigan, where three Chinese scholars were accused of smuggling biological materials.
Interim President Domenico Grasso said the university has since tightened security measures, including expanded background checks and increased oversight of biological materials in campus labs.
“We are setting university-wide standards for visiting researchers,” Grasso said, adding that the school is also strengthening physical security.
Democrats on the committee pushed back on the focus of the hearing, warning it could lead to xenophobia and distract from broader issues facing students.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) argued that federal education policy decisions are having a more direct impact.
“What we can quantify, however, is the enormous and detrimental effect of the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, students borrowers and their families,” she said.
The debate comes as President Donald Trump continues to push for dismantling the U.S. Department of Education — a move that could shift more responsibility for addressing threats, including espionage concerns, to state-level agencies with less federal oversight.
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