VOA慢速英语2019 美国教育部调查哈佛和耶鲁大学接受外国捐赠情况（在线收听）

The United States Department of Education has launched an investigation into Harvard University and Yale University. Earlier this month, the agency announced the schools had failed to report hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign gifts and contracts.

美国教育部已经开始对哈佛大学和耶鲁大学进行调查。美国教育部本月早些时候宣布，这些学校没有上报价值数亿美元的外国资金捐赠和合约。

Yale University is in New Haven, Connecticut. It may not have reported at least $375 million in foreign money over the last four years, officials said in a statement. They are also concerned that Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, may not have fully met reporting requirements.

耶鲁大学位于康涅狄格州的纽黑文市。官员们在一份声明中表示，耶鲁大学过去4年里没有上报的外国资金至少有3.75亿美元。他们还担心马萨诸塞州剑桥市的哈佛大学可能未能完全满足上报的要求。

"This is about transparency," U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a statement. "If colleges and universities are accepting foreign money and gifts, their students, donors, and taxpayers deserve to know how much and from whom."

美国教育部部长贝西·德沃斯在一份声明中表示：“这跟透明度有关。如果高校接受外国捐赠，他们的学生、捐赠者和纳税人有权知道资金数额和来源。”

Federal law requires most colleges and universities to report gifts from and contracts with foreign sources twice a year, if the amount is more than $250,000.

联邦法律要求大多数高校必须每年报告两次来自国外的捐赠来源和合约签署方，如果金额超过25万美元的话。

Reed Rubinstein is the head of the Education Department's legal team. He recently sent a letter to Yale President Peter Salovey. The letter accused the university of not reporting "a single foreign source gift or contract" from 2014 to 2017. Yet the school operates in many countries.

里德·鲁宾斯坦是美国教育部法律团队的负责人。他最近给耶鲁大学校长彼得·萨洛维发去了信函。信中指责该大学在2014年到2017年期间没有报告一起外国馈赠或合约。然而该学校在许多国家运营。

Reed Rubinstein sent a similar letter to Harvard President Lawrence Bacow. Rubinstein said the Education Department knew "of information suggesting Harvard University lacks appropriate institutional controls."

鲁宾斯坦也给哈佛大学校长劳伦斯·巴科发去了类似的信件。鲁宾斯坦表示，美国教育部掌握的信息表明哈佛大学缺乏适当的制度管控措施。

The letter comes shortly after an investigation into Charles M. Lieber, the head of Harvard University’s chemistry department. Lieber was arrested on January 28 and released early this month on a $1 million bond.

这封信是在对哈佛大学化学系主任查尔斯·利伯（Charles M. Lieber）进行调查后不久发出的。 利伯于1月28日被捕，并于本月初以100万美元保释金保释。

The investigation of Yale and Harvard is part of a larger examination by the Department of Education. The agency says since July its enforcement efforts have led to the reporting of nearly $6.5 billion in formerly undisclosed foreign money. Much of that money came from China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

对耶鲁大学和哈佛大学的调查是美国教育部进行的一项较大审查的一部分。该机构表示，自去年7月开始执法以来，已经有65亿美元先前未披露的资金被上报。这些资金大部分来自中国、沙特、卡塔尔和阿拉伯。

"This sum may be significantly underestimated," the education department said.

美国教育部表示：“这个数字可能被大大低估了。”

Karen Peart is a spokeswoman for Yale University. She confirmed the school had received a request from the department for records of some foreign gifts and contracts under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

克伦·佩尔特是耶鲁大学的女发言人。她确认耶鲁大学已经收到了教育部的通知，要求该校根据1965年《高等教育法》第117条提供外国捐赠和合约的记录。

"We are reviewing the request and preparing to respond to it," Peart told reporters.

佩尔特对记者表示：“我们正在复查这一要求，并准备对此作出回应。

Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain made a similar confirmation. He said that the school had received a "Notice of Investigation" from the agency and was also preparing an answer.

哈佛大学发言人乔纳森·斯温也同样予以确认。他说，学校已经收到了美国教育部的“调查通知书”，并且也在准备作出回复。

Last year, the department also sent letters to several other schools. They included Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, Cornell University, Rutgers University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland. Department officials wrote that they were seeking records dating back as far as nine years ago. Their requests included records of agreements with groups and governments in countries like China, Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

去年，美国教育部还致函了其它几所大学。这些学校包括乔治敦大学、德克萨斯农工大学、康奈尔大学、罗格斯大学、麻省理工学院和马里兰大学。该部门官员写道，他们正在索取可追溯至9年前的记录。他们要求获得包括跟中国、卡塔尔、俄罗斯和沙特等国家的组织和政府所达成协议的记录。

A year ago, a U.S. Senate committee on investigations described foreign spending on U.S. schools as "a black hole." It revealed that fewer than 3 percent of 3,700 higher education institutions that received foreign money reported receiving gifts or contracts over $250,000.

一年前，美国参议院一家负责调查的委员会称外国对美国高校的支出是一个黑洞。它揭露了接受外国资金的3700家高等教育机构中，只有不到3%对机构上报了金额超过25万美元的捐赠或合约。

But some experts argue blame for this "black hole" should not fall on colleges and universities alone. In July, the American Council on Education, or ACE, which represents hundreds of colleges and universities, wrote a letter to the Education Department. ACE's senior vice president for government relations, Terry W. Hartle, pointed out the rules governing these gifts are over 30 years old. He added that the department has never made an effort to make the rules clearer.

但是一些专家认为，这个黑洞的责任不应该单单由高校承担。去年7月份，代表数百所高校的美国教育理事会给教育部发去了一封信。美国教育理事会负责处理政府关系的副会长特里·哈特尔指出，负责监管这种捐赠的规定已经有30多年历史。他还表示，美国教育部从未采取措施让这些规定更为清晰。

"It is...unfair to enforce requirements that do not exist in writing," Hartle wrote.

哈特尔表示：“美国教育部执行没有书面形式的规定是不公平的。”