The ISGAP ongoing research project examines illicit funding of United States universities by foreign governments, foundations and corporations that adhere to and promote anti-democratic and antisemitic ideologies, with connections to terrorism and terror financing.
The project revealed, for the first time, the existence of substantial Middle Eastern funding (primarily from Qatar) to US universities that had not been reported to the Department of Education (DoED), as required by law. In fact, ISGAP’s research uncovered billions of dollars of unreported funds, which, in turn, led to the launch of a federal government investigation in 2019.
As part of its continued research, ISGAP has uncovered and established that the foreign donations from Qatar, especially, have had a substantial impact on fomenting growing levels of antisemitic discourse and campus politics at US universities, as well as growing support for anti-democratic values within these institutions of higher education. With the explosion of antisemitism at US universities since October 7, 2023 weeks, there are also security concerns that have potential domestic and global implications.
Comprehensive reports accessible through the ISGAP website include:
Cornell University’s Ten Billion Dollar Sale
Soft Power, Qatar, The Muslim Brotherhood, and an Antisemitism Crisis on Campus
The research exposes the staggering scale of Qatari funding to Cornell, with over $1.95 billion USD donated directly to the university from 2001 to 2023. This makes Qatar the largest direct foreign donor to the university, some 30 times higher than the next largest, Hong Kong, which has donated just $69 million USD since 1995. The report also includes findings showing that Qatar donated a further 7.9 billion USD to the Sidra Hospital in Doha, which is partly operated by Cornell and is a crucial component of the Cornell Weill School of Medicine – Qatar.
Columbia University From the Classroom to Campus Politics
The Normalization of Antisemitism, Anti-Democratic Politics, marginalization and Intimidation
Despite receiving large amounts of funding from Qatar over the years, Columbia University has not reported any of this funding to the Department of Education (DOE). Moreover, there have been no references to connections between Columbia University and Qatar or Qatari entities in its financial statements.
The Ongoing Failure To Report
Yale University, Qatar and Undisclosed Foreign Funding
Research reveals that Yale University has only declared one grant from Qatar since 2012, in the amount of just $284,668, yet we estimate that it has received approximately $15,925,711 during this time. It is difficult to ascertain the exact amount, as Yale does not disclose all its foreign funding. This despite that fact that, by law and according to the ethics guides of most major universities, all agreements, contracts, MOUs, and service-in-kind arrangements should be made public.
Hijacking Higher Education, Qatar, The Muslim Brotherhood, and Texas A&M
Buying Nuclear Research and Student Information
More than a billion US dollars has been provided to Texas A&M (TAMU)/ Texas A&M in Qatar (TAMUQ) by the Qatar Foundation, a Qatari regime-owned foundation. The Qatar Foundation (QF) TAMU contract extraordinarily stipulates that Qatari state proxies own the intellectual property for the research projects, which is not conventional practice. In addition, according to the agreement, the Qatari Regime, has access to sensitive student information, which could violate acceptable United States (US) practices.