Around $15 million worth of Northwestern’s grants from the National Science Foundation were identified as promoting DEI and “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda” by a new U.S. Senate Commerce Committee database released Tuesday.
The NSF, a federal agency that funds research in all non-medical fields, has been a historic contributor to NU. University records between 2013 to 2023 show that NSF funding for NU grew over 40 percent to around $62.4 million during the end of that time.
But a week into President Donald Trump’s second administration, the NSF sent shockwaves by freezing its annual grant review in a move to seemingly comply with his executive orders. Now, the new database could put an already growing target on NU’s back.
The original database identifies over 3,400 grants and more than $2.05 billion in federal funding from the NSF during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
In a statement from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s office (R-Texas), the Senate Commerce Committee chair said, “I am proud to release our investigation’s database, which exposes how the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies to push a far-left ideology. Congress must end the politicization of NSF funding and restore integrity to scientific research.”
The database is an extension of a report led by Cruz in October identifying how the NSF has “politicized the use of taxpayer dollars meant for scientific research,” some of which he claims contributed to “outbreaks of campus antisemitism” nationwide.
The compilation lists over 20 grants from NU alone. Some of the grants fund projects looking into topics involving minority populations.
One of the grants went to researchers to look into factors affecting Latine engineering students’ decisions to enter graduate or engineering careers. Another provided financial support for select graduate students from underrepresented groups to attend a transportation science conference. A third grant funded a study looking at how students reacted before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back on campus, NU has already shown signs of abiding by Trump’s executive orders. The Feinberg school of medicine recently scrubbed its webpage for its Office of Diversity & Inclusion of the words “diversity” and “inclusion.
The office has now been renamed the Office of Health Equity.
NSF’s funding with NU will likely be a point of concern as the Trump administration barrels forward with its agenda in the coming weeks.
Email: jerrywu2027@u.northwestern.edu
X: @Jerrwu
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