NEW YORK, September 8, 2026 – The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) today released a new policy paper calling for a federal investigation into Cornell University’s financial relationship with Qatar following the disclosure in July of more than $1 billion in additional Qatari funding and previously unreported restrictions relating to faculty and intellectual property sharing.
The paper, Foreign Interference in Higher Education and the Need for a Federal Government Investigation, analyzes updated U.S. Department of Education Section 117 data.
A $1.08 billion contract relating to Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar is described by Cornell as a multi- year forecast of operating costs for January 2026 through June 2032. According to ISGAP’s analysis, the disclosure, while ostensibly providing forward-looking estimates, also identifies direct interference by Qatar through the presence of faculty restrictions that are tied to the contract start date of October 27, 2020, indicating an almost six-year delay in the disclosure of these restrictions, which can relate to employment, termination or faculty assignment.
A smaller 2025 contract, only disclosed weeks ago by Cornell, purportedly supports another agreement that is part of Qatar’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership program. The program, which was created to bolster Qatar’s national strategy, embeds in its policies a requirement that intellectual property be shared with Qatari state entities.
Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director of ISGAP, said: “A newly disclosed $1.08 billion foreign funding arrangement involving restrictions relating to faculty, as well arrangements that share potentially sensitive data and research with a foreign government, demand serious scrutiny. The question is not simply how much money Cornell has received from Qatar, but what conditions accompanied that funding, how long those conditions have been in place, and why they were not previously disclosed. Universities receiving billions of dollars from foreign governments have a responsibility to demonstrate that their academic independence and institutional decision-making remain protected. Congressional probes into foreign influence at universities like Cornell could undoubtedly have explored the nature of the faculty restrictions present at Cornell, had the university bothered to timely disclose them. Instead, the delay here of almost six years has compromised the factfinding process to the detriment of the American public. We call on the Department of Education to review these extraordinary findings and to alert the Department of Justice of the alarming discovery. The appropriate federal authorities should now investigate the nature of these restrictions and whether Cornell fully met its disclosure obligations.”
The paper also cites federal court findings involving Carnegie Mellon University, another major recipient of Qatari funding, describing contractual provisions involving Qatar Foundation participation in senior academic appointments and consultation over course offerings. ISGAP argues that these findings reinforce the need to establish precisely what Cornell’s newly reported faculty restrictions entail. Dr. Small stated, “Carnegie Mellon, which stands behind Cornell as the second largest recipient of disclosed Qatari funding to universities, was shown in a federal lawsuit to have a Qatari-paid administrator who handled a student’s claim of antisemitic discrimination. The federal judge there has ordered additional discovery. That Cornell also had a contract imposing faculty restrictions is therefore not surprising but instead underscores the absolute necessity of a robust compliance and enforcement process. Our universities are supposed to be pillars of open inquiry and freedom. When they conceal information about their foreign entanglements for years beyond what is reasonable, then it is fair to worry that they have become foreign agents themselves.”
The new policy paper follows ISGAP’s 2024 report on Cornell’s relationship with Qatar, which documented what ISGAP described as significant omissions in the university’s foreign funding disclosures.
ISGAP’s policy recommendations include stronger enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, support for the DETERRENT Act, comprehensive disclosure of agreements with foreign entities, expanded reporting of direct and indirect foreign funding, greater transparency around funding of student associations, and an independent review by Cornell of its operations in Qatar.
The full policy paper, Foreign Interference in Higher Education and the Need for a Federal Government Investigation, is available from ISGAP here.