USC is cooperating with the House of Representatives investigation into Chinese national students at USC, an Aug. 6 University statement to the Daily Trojan read. The University did not share any details on the status or breadth of the investigation.

This follows a letter sent by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party amid requesting University data on Chinese national students in March. The data request includes the percentage of Chinese graduates remaining in the United States or returning to China, a list of all universities the students previously attended, the sources of their tuition funding, and a list of their affiliated research initiatives and laboratories. 

The letter claimed that certain Chinese national students are part of a system that exploits higher education for China’s military gain. It alleged that the CCP has established a pipeline that embeds researchers in institutions with exposure to sensitive technologies. 

The Select Committee addressed advanced tech fields in its letter, such as semiconductor research, artificial intelligence and aerospace engineering — all areas of fierce competition between the U.S. and China. USC launched its Frontiers of Computing initiative in 2024, putting more than $1 billion into areas of study such as AI and quantum computing. 

Jennifer Li, a junior majoring in business administration and a member of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s leadership team, said the letter caused “uncertainty” among some international students. 

“Here in the States, one of our spirits is freedom,” Li said. “So obviously now, I feel like a few of the students are being targeted. On one hand, we understand national security is pretty important, but on the other hand, we don’t really understand. It’s pretty strange, all of our information being used by the country.”

Li said she’d likely attend graduate school before seeking employment in the U.S., but would likely return to China if there were no opportunities. 

“There’s a lot of rumors going around,” Li said. “The space is pretty inclusive and diverse, but if there’s two choices between a student who’s American and a student who’s international, I think the company will probably choose the other one, and not us, especially if the company [has government ties].”

The sentiment was echoed by Haytham Liu, a junior majoring in applied and computational mathematics. Liu said the probe raised privacy concerns with him, and that he felt he couldn’t explore his desired major. 

“I was interested in learning AI or quantum computation,” Liu said, “When I saw this policy come out, it [felt] like, ‘You cannot do this anymore.’ You don’t want to be considered a spy … We’re not learning this to contribute to [China]; we’re just trying to have our own life. We’re just normal students.”

Li hoped that in the future, the perception of Chinese students would shift away from the CCP.

“I hope people see us Chinese students — and no matter if they’re Chinese or any other race — to see us as individuals, and not as representatives of a government, because we’re not,” Li said.

Liu said he was unsure about studying STEM in America, as he feared his visa being cancelled because of his major. He also mentioned that fear of espionage among international students went both ways.

The Select Committee sent similar letters to other universities, such as Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University and Purdue University in March. The committee also sent letters in early July to Dartmouth College, UC Davis and the University of Notre Dame, among others, calling for an end to their joint programs with the China Scholarship Council, a nonprofit that funds scholarships for international students studying in China.