Freedom doesn’t vanish overnight. It fades slowly. One classroom, one lecture, one “donation” at a time.
That’s exactly what’s happening as Qatar, a tiny but fabulously wealthy Gulf monarchy, buys influence across Western universities. The same regime that jails journalists and enforces Islamic law at home is quietly funding the education of America’s next generation — and shaping how they think about freedom, faith, and national identity.
Between 1981 and today, Qatar has given more than $6.3 billion to U.S. universities — making it the largest foreign donor to American higher education. Schools like Cornell, Georgetown, Texas A&M, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon have accepted millions from the Qatari state and even built branch campuses in Doha’s “Education City.”
On paper, it sounds benign — an exchange of ideas, a bridge between cultures, “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” In reality, it’s a pipeline of influence. Qatar’s funding often comes with strings attached: curbs on academic criticism of the regime, program oversight by Qatari officials, and soft censorship of topics that contradict Doha’s worldview.
As the Free Press reported, Qatar’s gifts “represent the single largest stream of foreign money into American universities,” with much of it unreported or obscured.
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) found that Qatar’s donations alone accounted for more than $2 billon in “unregistered gifts” until a 2019 federal investigation forced greater disclosure.
Why would Qatar spend so lavishly to fund Western schools? Because it understands Mao’s principle during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s: whoever educates the youth shapes the future.
While the West debates pronouns and “safe spaces,” Qatar is building its own information empire. Through outlets like Al Jazeera (whose personalities like Mehdi Hassan and Ali Velshi have then gone on to populate mainstream cable anchor and senior correspondent roles), think-tank partnerships, and influencers on social media, Doha projects an image of progressiveness. Meanwhile, its own citizens live under laws that restrict free speech, suppress dissent, and persecute religious minorities.
This is not cultural exchange. It’s cultural re-engineering.
Qatar’s values are completely against Western Civilization. The West was built on a simple premise: truth is not dictated by the powerful; it is self-evident. We value free speech, debate, religious freedom, and genuine liberty.
Ideas must be tested by open debate, not purchased by foreign governments. When we allow authoritarian money to define what our students learn, we’re not exporting freedom — we’re importing censorship.
Freedom is fragile because it depends on conviction and defense, not convenience. It requires citizens willing to say no to money that compromises truth. It requires universities that choose independence over influence.
Qatar’s investments in American education and media are not the problem; our willingness to sell our integrity is.
The West doesn’t need another donor. It needs defenders. Freedom isn’t inherited — it’s earned. And it’s worth protecting. If we don’t draw the line now and save the West, the next generation won’t even know where the line used to be.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared at Townhall.com.
Notice: This column is printed with permission. Opinion pieces published by AFN.net are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, AFN.net, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
