Follow the Money

Chart of the Week #36

Ever wondered why America’s universities are in such bad shape? I mean, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know the system has been completely hijacked by cultural Marxists, socialists, statists, collectivists, and champions of identity politics (even STEM fields haven’t been spared). These people despise Western civilization and its values and are actively working to dismantle them.

The institutions they control churn out scores of “professionals” with useless degrees in gender studies, critical race theory, intersectional dance therapy, and other such nonsense—all while leaving students drowning in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

Before they graduate, though, they’ll spend their time in places that have become little more than hotbeds of meaningless activism. Most people will probably agree with that, no matter their views on social or political issues. One obvious reason for this is the idealistic, misguided nature of young people—their instinct to change the world before figuring out how to make their own bed or clean their room.

As Doug Casey aptly points out:

When the average 18-year-old goes to college, he knows very little about how the world works in general. He's got vague ideas he picked up mostly from TV, movies, and people who got a job teaching high school. They know basically nothing about economics, government, or history. Worse, what they think they know is mostly wrong.

But there’s another, darker side to this: our universities have been pulling in billions from countries looking to influence young American minds. That’s the focus of this week’s chart below. Take a look—it shows the top 10 foreign donors to U.S. universities since 2012.

Qatar leads the way with a massive $3.2 billion, followed by China at $1.7 billion. Together, they’ve funneled nearly $5 billion into American academia.

What's particularly striking isn't just the amounts—though they're substantial—but who's doing the giving. The top donors are predominantly rich Middle Eastern countries (and, as mentioned, China)—nations whose values and interests aren’t exactly in sync with America’s.

Let that sink in: countries that routinely suppress free speech, restrict academic freedom, and despise Western values are pumping billions into our academic institutions. I’m sure it’s all just for the love of education, right?

But let's put some faces to these numbers. Over roughly two decades, Carnegie Mellon took in $1.47 billion, Cornell $1.29 billion, Harvard $894 million, and MIT $859 million—and that's just what we know about.

In case you’re wondering why we don’t have the full picture, let’s just say they’re not exactly eager to talk about it.

That said, we do have some idea of the scale. A November 2023 report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that at least 200 American colleges and universities had illegally hidden around $13 billion in undocumented contributions from foreign nations.

Again, I don’t care where you stand on any particular social or political issue—nobody should be naive enough to think these countries are pouring billions into universities just to build better libraries. They’re buying influence. Plain and simple. Think curriculum choices, research priorities, campus politics—the whole package. They are buying America’s future.

Have a good rest of the weekend!

Lau Vegys