S. 1738 — Securing Academia from Foreign Entanglements Act

This section (1) amends disclosure requirements under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) by excluding a foreign country of concern from the term "agency of a foreign government" and (2) prohibits institutions of higher education from receiving a gift from or entering into a contract with a foreign country of concern. (As background, HEA Section 117 requires institutions to disclose semiannually to the Secretary of Education any gifts received from or contracts with foreign sources valued at $250,000 or more in a calendar year, with aggregated reporting by country for nongovernmental sources and separately for each foreign government.) A foreign country of concern includes a covered nation (i.e., the People's Republic of China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, as defined in 10 U.S.C. 4872(d)) or any country that the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and Director of National Intelligence, determines to be engaged in conduct detrimental to U.S. national security or foreign policy. The prohibition does not apply to payments for tuition, room and board, fees, or other costs of attendance.