Federal authorities should investigate how a charitable foundation with ties to Iran steered millions of dollars to dozens of American universities including Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, according to Rep. Dan Donovan.
Critics charge the grants from the Alavi Foundation helped fund pro-Tehran and anti-Israel professors.
“I’ll be contacting the secretary of education . . . about this matter immediately,” said Donovan (R-SI).
“Did this foundation attempt to subvert American academic institutions? . . . We need to investigate this, and universities have to do a better job of vetting their donors.”
In June, a Manhattan federal court jury found the Alavi Foundation was illegally managing 650 Fifth Ave. on behalf of Iran.