Florida lawmakers will consider legislation to protect state universities and research institutions from interference by China, state House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said Tuesday. In a tweet, Sprowls said the legislation will come as part of efforts by the House Select Committee on the Integrity of Research Institutions, which was set up by former Speaker Jose Oliva in response to reports of Chinese meddling at Moffitt Cancer Center and at the University of Florida.
“The Florida House launched the 1st State-initiated investigation into China’s coordinated effort to access our Universities & research,” Sprowls tweeted. “Next year, we will propose new legislation to make Florida the national leader in protecting our research institutions.”
The Tampa cancer center, which receives state funding, went through a shake-up after the center’s chief executive officer, a senior member of the center and four researchers resigned over alleged violations of conflict-of-interest rules related to work in China. Moffitt reported no evidence intellectual property had been stolen or that research of patient care had been compromised, but “out of an abundance of caution” it returned roughly $1.1 million to the state.
Sprowls linked his tweet with a National Review report titled, “America’s Elite Universities Hide Contributions from World’s Worst Human-Rights Abusers.”
The report said, “While governments of allies such as England, Germany, and Italy all donate directly to U.S. colleges, roughly one-third of declared foreign funds come from nations that abuse human rights on a massive scale.” The report also noted that “various universities reported receiving $6.6 billion in recent years from countries including Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.”
The 2021 legislative session will begin March 2.
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DTH asks why just Red China?
Because they have a long & persistent history of intellectual property theft, suborning locals to be their puppets, spying (wading through swamps to photograph USA military installations, antennae, new tech…). Much more than other foreign powers.
(*You can tell a lot from antennae. I recall reading that some benevolent fanatic USA amateurs caught images of antennae during the 1960s, & used it to listen in on Apollo comms. WRM, I recommend Shetterly’s _Hidden Figures_. They, too, had the right stuff.)
As a recovering professional student with a post graduate degree along with a couple of other degrees, too many of these scum academics are despicable. They will sell-out their souls for Chicom $$ along with any other revenue stream to fund their mostly useless programs. And don’t get me started on the shocking and appalling federal grants for the most ridiculous research projects these academics push. Unless your kid is going to learn a true skill at University like nursing, business management, engineering, etc. keep them out and send them to trade school. They will be better off for it, save tons of money and won’t come out as some mind numbed psychopath leftist. The sooner these Universities have their funding and budgets slashed and burned the better.
Why not ALL outside Influences, NOT just China.
Too late… they’re already here, and just planted their puppet and his drug addict son in the White House