The University of the Azores was one of the Portuguese universities that received a survey from the US administration with questions about inclusion policy or relations with China. At stake may be funding for the program to promote American culture, “American Corner”.
The Expresso newspaper reported the news. Six Portuguese higher education institutions, including the University of the Azores, which have joined the “AmericanCorner” program, received a questionnaire with 36 questions to answer in three days.
The US administration asked, for example, if it was a “DEI—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” project, a “climate justice” project, and if it contributed to “containing malign influence, including from China.”
It also asked about “combating the persecution of Christianity”, “collaboration with terrorist associations,” and “defense against gender ideology”.
The document also referenced Donald Trump’s decisions and executive orders.

The University of the Azores will not respond.
Antena 1/Açores interviewed the provoart of the University of the Azores, Amélia Fonseca, who confirmed that the Azorean academy had received the inquiry but chose not to respond.
According to the newspaper Expresso, the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon took the same position, claiming that it was “subject to all the mechanisms of public scrutiny and institutional, administrative and legal oversight typical of a democratic state governed by the rule of law that is part of the European Union” and that it “has always carefully and responsibly managed the AmericanCorner Grants, scrupulously fulfilling their purpose”.
The newspaper adds that the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (CRUP) has decided to express its displeasure to the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, considering the questions “abusive” and an attempt to “interfere in the scientific and pedagogical autonomy” of the academies.
According to the Expresso report, on the same day that it received the inquiry, the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon received a communication from the US State Department informing it of the immediate end of the financial support granted under the “AmericanCorner” program, claiming that it did not fit in with the agency’s “priorities”.
The program aims to promote the culture of the United States. It subsidizes, for example, the visit of researchers and scientists to Portuguese universities or the holding of lectures and counseling sessions for Portuguese students who want to attend higher education in the USA.

Program continues
At the University of the Azores, this program currently involves a sum of around 20,000 euros.
Amélia Fonseca told Antena 1/Açores that the program is still running at the Azorean academy for the time being.
“The ‘AmericanCorner’ program has existed at the university since 2010 and is still running. We’ve had no news of the program being canceled here. We did receive, like all the other universities, a survey to fill out. We decided not to fill it out. But we have everything up and running. We only received notification that one of the grants had ended, which was for 2023, but everything else is still working,” he said.

In Diário Insular–José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno.