University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso will testify Thursday, March 26, on Capitol Hill on the topic of Chinese espionage on college campuses.
Grasso is one of four witnesses set to appear before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce at a hearing titled “U.S. Universities Under Siege: Foreign Espionage, Stolen Innovation, and the National Security Threat.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, chairs the committee. His district stretches across the southernmost part of Michigan from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie.
Grasso was not subpoenaed to appear. He was asked to testify and agreed, said committee spokeswoman Sara Robertson. U-M spokesman Paul Corliss confirmed that Grasso will testify.
U-M made international headlines last year when federal prosecutors charged three Chinese citizens with smuggling hazardous biological material into the country to work on it in U-M labs. The Trump administration also announced in July that it was investigating U-M for potential foreign influence, claiming the school was indifferent to national security concerns raised by the FBI.
One of the three people charged with smuggling, Chengxuan Han, told a federal judge that she had no intention of harming anyone or creating a security hazard. She pleaded no contest to three counts of smuggling. A judge fined her $100 and sentenced her to time served after she’d been locked up for about three months following her arrest.
Another defendant, Yunqing Jian, also pleaded no contest and was sentenced to time served and then deported. The case against the third defendant, Zunyong Liu, is pending.
Also scheduled to testify at Thursday’s hearing are:
The hearing will be livestreamed on the committee YouTube channel.
Free Press staff writer Christina Hall contributed to this report.
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: U-M president to testify on Capitol Hill over alleged Chinese espionage
Reporting by John Wisely, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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