The division says Palantir was concerned in a portal monitoring universities’ international items and contracts.
The American Affiliation of College Professors (AAUP) is publicly expressing concern concerning the Training Division working with Palantir, a controversial synthetic intelligence and knowledge evaluation firm that serves the U.S. navy and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The AAUP says it discovered of the partnership when FedScoop reported that it observed a message referencing Palantir on the web site foreignfundinghighered.gov Dec. 4. An hour later, the web site confirmed “a login web page with the Palantir emblem,” and, a few hours after that, “the Palantir emblem was changed with an Training Division emblem,” the outlet wrote.
Foreignfundinghighered.gov tracks international items and contracts knowledge for greater ed establishments. If a international supply offers a school or college greater than $250,000 in a 12 months, Part 117 of the Greater Training Act of 1965 requires the establishment to report the cost to the federal authorities.
In an electronic mail to Inside Greater Ed, the Training Division described Palantir’s involvement previously tense. It mentioned Palantir was concerned with the international funding portal as a subcontractor for Monkton, an organization that has lengthy dealt with privateness and knowledge points for the Departments of Protection and Homeland Safety.
“After soliciting suggestions from establishments of upper training, the Trump Administration has upgraded the portal to make it simpler for faculties and universities to report their international items and contracts as required,” Julie Hartman, the Training Division’s press secretary for authorized affairs, mentioned in a press release.
The AAUP held a information convention Wednesday elevating concern about Palantir’s previous work and about important statements that Palantir leaders Alex Karp and Peter Thiel had made about greater ed.
“We wish transparency,” AAUP president Todd Wolfson informed reporters. “We need to know what Palantir is doing on this contract and we need to know the way a lot they stand to make.” He mentioned it “appears to be one more entrance geared toward surveilling and criminalizing our faculties and universities,” and will point out a “shift towards treating greater training not as a public good, however as a safety menace to be monitored.”
The division didn’t inform Inside Greater Ed how a lot Palantir is being paid. Hartman mentioned “universities’ clear disclosure and public transparency necessities have been in statute for many years,” including that the AAUP’s “baseless assertion that the portal is a ‘politicized punitive motion’ demonstrates their utter disregard for the rule of legislation.”
She mentioned, “the Trump Administration is ending the secrecy surrounding international {dollars} and affect on American campuses.” Palantir spokespeople didn’t return Inside Greater Ed’s requests for remark.
