Notice of Investigation and Record Requests
| Published date | 28 June 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 31052 |
| Record Number | 2019-13904 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Education Department |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31052-31055]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13904]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Notice of Investigation and Record Requests
AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department publishes these letters, dated June 13, 2019,
notifying Georgetown University and Texas A&M University of
investigations related to the universities' reports of defined gifts
and contracts, including restricted and conditional gifts or contracts,
from or with a statutorily defined foreign source.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Shaheen, U.S. Department of
Education, Office of the General Counsel, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Room
6E300, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 453-6339. Email:
[email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-
877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department publishes these letters,
dated June 13, 2019, notifying Georgetown University and Texas A&M
University of investigations related to the universities' reports of
defined gifts and contracts, including restricted and conditional gifts
or contracts, from or with a statutorily defined foreign source. The
letter to Georgetown University is in Appendix A of this notice. The
letter to Texas A&M University is in Appendix B of this notice.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at: www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit
[[Page 31053]]
your search to documents published by the Department.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1011f.
Reed D. Rubinstein,
Acting General Counsel.
Appendix A--Letter to Georgetown University
John J. DeGioia, President
Georgetown University
37th and O Streets, N.W.
Washington, DC 20057
Re: Notice of 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f Investigation and Record Request/
Georgetown University
Dear President DeGioia:
Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. Sec.
1011f, requires certain institutions, including Georgetown University,
to report statutorily defined gifts and contracts, including restricted
and conditional gifts or contracts, from or with a statutorily defined
foreign source, to the U.S. Department of Education. These reports may
be found at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/foreign-gifts.
The Department believes Georgetown University's reporting may not
fully capture all gifts, contracts, and/or restricted and conditional
gifts or contracts from or with all foreign sources (e.g., Chinese
nationals and agents who fund the Georgetown Initiative for U.S.-China
Dialogue on Global Issues; the government of the People's Republic of
China, its agencies, and agents, including but not limited to, the
persons known as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Huawei Technologies USA,
Inc., and ZTE Corp, their employees, subsidiaries, agents, and
affiliates; the government of Saudi Arabia, its agencies, and agents;
the government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents, including but not
limited to the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development). For example, Georgetown University's Section 117
reporting should have included Georgetown University Qatar; all other
Georgetown University locations, see https://www.georgetown.edu/locations.html; and all of Georgetown University's affiliated
foundations and non-profit organizations, whether or not organized
under the laws of the United States (e.g., the Prince Alwaleed bin
Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding), that receive gifts,
enter into contracts, and/or receive or enter into restricted or
conditional gifts or contracts from or with a foreign source and that
operate substantially for the benefit or under the auspices of
Georgetown University.
Section 117(f), 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(f), provides that whenever it
appears an institution has failed to comply with the law, the Secretary
of Education may request the Attorney General commence an enforcement
action to compel compliance and to recover the full costs to the United
States of obtaining compliance, including all associated costs of
investigation and enforcement. To meet our statutory duty, the
Department has opened an administrative investigation of your
institution and requests production of these records within thirty
days:
1. All records of (a) gifts from, (b) contracts with, and/or (c)
restricted or conditional gifts from or contracts with, foreign
sources. The time frame for this request is January 1, 2010, to the
present.
2. All records of, regarding, or referencing (a) gifts from, (b)
contracts with, and/or (c) restricted or conditional gifts from or
contracts with (i) the government of the People's Republic of China,
its agencies, and agents, including but not limited to, the persons
known as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Huawei Technologies USA, Inc.,
and ZTE Corp, their subsidiaries, agents, and affiliates; (ii) the
government of Saudi Arabia, its agencies, and agents; (iii) the
government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents, including but not
limited to the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development; and (iv) the government of Russia, its agencies, and
agents, including but not limited to Kaspersky Lab and Kaspersky Lab
US, its agents, employees, and affiliates. The time frame for this
request is January 1, 2010, to the present.
3. All records of, regarding, or referencing foreign sources of gifts,
contracts, and/or restricted and conditional gifts or contracts related
to or for the benefit of Georgetown University Qatar. The time frame
for this request is January 1, 2010, to the present.
4. All records of, regarding, or referencing activities taken by
Georgetown University to comply with 20 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1011f(a),
(b), (c), and (e). The time frame for this request is January 1, 2014,
to the present.
5. All records of, regarding, or referencing communications with
foreign sources regarding the Georgetown Initiative for U.S.-China
Dialogue on Global Issues and the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding. The time frame for this request is
January 1, 2014, to the present.
6. All records of, regarding, or referencing communications between
Prof. Theodore Moran and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., its agents,
subsidiaries, and affiliates, including but not limited to Huawei
Technologies USA, Inc. The time frame for this request is January 1,
2010, to the present.
7. All records of, regarding, or referencing ``Hanban'', the Office of
Chinese Language Council International, or the Confucius Institute,
their agents, employees, affiliates, or subsidiaries. The time frame
for this request is January 1, 2015 to the present.
8. All records of, regarding, or referencing activities taken by or
required of Georgetown University to confirm the foreign sources of
gifts, contracts, and/or restricted or conditional gifts or contracts
(e.g., the government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents; the Qatar
Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development; and or
persons funding or providing services to the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding) (a) do not engage in, or
provide material support to any person who engages in, activities
prohibited by 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 2339, 2339A, 2339B, 2339C, and
2339D; and (b)(i) are not owned or controlled by, (ii) do not act for
or on behalf of, assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or
technological support or other services to, or in support of, and (iii)
are not otherwise associated with, any person who is a ``Specially
Designated Global Terrorist'' under Executive Order 13224. The time
frame for this request is January 1, 2010, to the present.
9. All IRS Form 990s and schedules, including but not limited to
Schedules F and R, for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, for
Georgetown University and Georgetown University Qatar.
As used in this Notice of Investigation and Information Request:
``Contract'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(1).
``Foreign source'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(2).
``Gift'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(3).
``Institution'' is at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(4) and includes all
affiliated
[[Page 31054]]
foundations and non-profit organizations (e.g., the Prince Alwaleed bin
Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding), whether or not
organized under the laws of the United States, that operate
substantially for the benefit or under the auspices of Georgetown
University.
``Restricted or conditional gift or contract'' is defined by reference
to 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(5).
``Record'' means all recorded information, regardless of form or
characteristics, made or received by you, and including metadata, such
as email and other electronic communication, word processing documents,
PDF documents, animations (including PowerPointTM and other
similar programs) spreadsheets, databases, calendars, telephone logs,
contact manager information, internet usage files, network access
information, writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound
recordings, images, financial statements, checks, wire transfers,
accounts, ledgers, facsimiles, texts, animations, voicemail files, data
generated by calendaring, task management and personal information
management (PIM) software (such as Microsoft Outlook), data created
with the use of personal data assistants (PDAs), data created with the
use of document management software, data created with the use of paper
and electronic mail logging and routing software, and other data or
data compilations, stored in any medium from which information can be
obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the
responding party into a reasonably usable form. The term ``recorded
information'' also includes all traditional forms of records,
regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information
created, manipulated, communicated, or stored in digital or electronic
form.
Your record and data preservation obligations are outlined at
Exhibit A. If you claim attorney-client or attorney-work product
privilege for a given record, then you must prepare and submit a
privilege log expressly identifying each such record and describing the
nature of the emails, documents, communications, or tangible things not
produced or disclosed in a manner that, without revealing information
itself privileged, will enable the Department to assess the validity of
your claim. Please note no other privileges apply to this records
request.
This investigation will be directed by the Department's Office of
General Counsel with support from Federal Student Aid. Your legal
counsel should contact:
Reed D. Rubinstein,
Acting General Counsel
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Room 6E300
Washington, D.C. 20202
[email protected]
Sincerely,
Mitchell M. Zais, Ph.D.
Appendix B--Letter to Texas A&M
Michael K. Young, President
Office of the President
1246 TAMU
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-1246
Re: Notice of 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f Investigation and Record Request/
Texas A&M University.
Dear President Young:
Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. Sec.
1011f, requires certain institutions, including Texas A&M University,
to report statutorily defined gifts, contracts, and/or restricted or
conditional gifts or contracts, from or with a statutorily defined
foreign source, to the U.S. Department of Education. These reports may
be found at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/foreign-gifts.
The Department believes that Texas A&M University's reporting may
not fully capture all covered gifts, contracts, and/or restricted or
conditional gifts or contracts, from or with all foreign sources (e.g.,
the government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents including but not
limited to the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development, its employees, subsidiaries, agents, and affiliates; the
government of the People's Republic of China, its agencies, and agents,
including but not limited to, the persons known as Huawei Technologies
Co. Ltd., Huawei Technologies USA, Inc., and ZTE Corp, their employees,
subsidiaries, agents, and affiliates). For example, Texas A&M
University's Section 117 reporting should have included Texas A&M
University at Qatar, see e.g., https://www.qatar.tamu.edu/about/ (``As
a branch campus, Texas A&M University at Qatar is included in the
institution's accreditation'') (last accessed May 28, 2019); all of
Texas A&M University's other locations; and all of Texas A&M
University's affiliated foundations and non-profit organizations (e.g.
the Texas A&M Foundation), whether or not organized under the laws of
the United States, that (a) receive gifts, enter into contracts, and/or
receive or enter into restricted or conditional gifts or contracts from
or with a foreign source, and (b) operate substantially for the benefit
or under the auspices of Texas A&M University.
Section 117(f), 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(f), provides that whenever it
appears an institution has failed to comply with the law, the Secretary
of Education may request the Attorney General commence an enforcement
action to compel compliance and to recover the full costs to the United
States of obtaining compliance, including all associated costs of
investigation and enforcement. To meet our statutory duty, the
Department has opened an administrative investigation of your
institution and requests production of the following records within
thirty (30) days:
1. All records of (a) gifts to, (b) contracts with, and (c) restricted
or conditional gifts to or contracts with, foreign sources. The time
frame for this request is January 1, 2014, to the present.
2. All records of, regarding, or referencing (a) gifts from, (b)
contracts with, and (c) restricted or conditional gifts from or
contracts with, (i) the government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents
including but not limited to the Qatar Foundation for Education,
Science and Community Development and (ii) the government of the
People's Republic of China, its agencies, and agents, including but not
limited to, the persons known as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Huawei
Technologies USA, Inc., and ZTE Corp, and their subsidiaries, agents,
and affiliates. The time frame for this request is January 1, 2014, to
the present.
3. All records of, regarding, or referencing the establishment and
foreign sources of funding for Texas A&M University at Qatar. The time
frame for this request is January 1, 2004, to the present.
4. All records of, regarding, or referencing activities taken by or
required of Texas A&M University to comply with 20 U.S.C. Sec. Sec.
1011f(a), (b), (c), and (e). The time frame for this request is January
1, 2014, to the present.
5. All records of, regarding, or referencing communications with the
government of Qatar, its agencies, and its agents including but not
limited to the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development regarding the subject matter of an
[[Page 31055]]
action titled Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development v. Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General (No. D-1-GN-18-
006240).
6. All records of, regarding, or referencing a ``Memorandum of
Understanding'' between Texas A&M University at Qatar and ``Huawei''
signed on or about May 31, 2015. See https://www.gulf-times.com/story/441448/Huawei-supports-Tamuq-s-programme-for-students. (last accessed
June 12, 2019). The time frame for this request is January 1, 2013, to
the present.
7. All records of, regarding, or referencing ``Hanban'', the Office of
Chinese Language Council International, or the Confucius Institute,
their agents, employees, affiliates, or subsidiaries. The time frame
for this request is January 1, 2010 to the present.
8. All records of, regarding, or referencing activities taken by or
required of your institution to confirm, foreign sources of gifts,
contracts, and/or restricted or conditional gifts or contracts (e.g.,
the government of Qatar, its agencies, and agents; the Qatar Foundation
for Education, Science and Community Development (a) do not engage in,
or provide material support to any person who engages in, activities
prohibited by 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 2339, 2339A, 2339B, 2339C, and
2339D; and (b)(i) are not owned or controlled by, (ii) do not act for
or on behalf of, assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or
technological support or other services to, or in support of, and (iii)
are not otherwise associated with, any person who is a ``Specially
Designated Global Terrorist'' under Executive Order 13224. The time
frame for this request is January 1, 2009, to the present.
9. All IRS Form 990s and schedules, including but not limited to
Schedules F and R, for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, for
(a) Texas A&M University, (b) the Texas A&M Foundation, located at 401
George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840-2811, and (c) Texas A&M
University at Qatar.
As used in this Notice of Investigation and Information Request:
``Contract'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(1).
``Foreign source'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(2).
``Gift'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(3).
``Institution'' is defined at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1011f(h)(4) and includes
all affiliated foundations and non-profit organizations (e.g., the
Texas A&M Foundation), whether or not organized under the laws of the
United States, that operate substantially for the benefit or under the
auspices of Texas A&M University.
``Restricted or conditional gift or contract'' is defined at 20 U.S.C.
Sec. 1011f(h)(5).
``Record'' means all recorded information, regardless of form or
characteristics, made or received by you, and including metadata, such
as email and other electronic communication, word processing documents,
PDF documents, animations (including PowerPointTM and other
similar programs) spreadsheets, databases, calendars, telephone logs,
contact manager information, internet usage files, network access
information, writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound
recordings, images, financial statements, checks, wire transfers,
accounts, ledgers, facsimiles, texts, animations, voicemail files, data
generated by calendaring, task management and personal information
management (PIM) software (such as Microsoft Outlook), data created
with the use of personal data assistants (PDAs), data created with the
use of document management software, data created with the use of paper
and electronic mail logging and routing software, and other data or
data compilations, stored in any medium from which information can be
obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the
responding party into a reasonably usable form. The term ``recorded
information'' also includes all traditional forms of records,
regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information
created, manipulated, communicated, or stored in digital or electronic
form.
Your record and data preservation obligations are outlined at
Exhibit A.
If you claim attorney-client or attorney-work product privilege for
a given record, then you must prepare and submit a privilege log
expressly identifying each such record and describing the nature of the
emails, documents, communications, or tangible things not produced or
disclosed in a manner that, without revealing information itself
privileged, will enable the Department to assess the validity of your
claim. Please note no other privileges apply to this information
request.
This investigation will be directed by the Department's Office of
General Counsel with support from Federal Student Aid. Your legal
counsel should contact:
Reed D. Rubinstein,
Acting General Counsel
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Room 6E300
Washington, D.C. 20202
[email protected]
Sincerely,
Mitchell M. Zais, Ph.D.
[FR Doc. 2019-13904 Filed 6-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
