The federal keyword lists that canceled billions in research funding
Article URL: https://www.highereddive.com/news/inside-the-federal-keyword-lists-that-canceled-billions-in-research-funding/826203/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49325159 Points: 154 # Comments: 45
Federal agencies terminated billions of dollars in research funding based on specific keywords, according to court documents filed by University of California researchers. The termination of grants often occurred abruptly, mid-project, with few details provided. The termination targeted projects related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and related subjects that were deemed disfavored by the administration.
Federal agencies relied heavily on keyword searches to identify grants for termination, rather than assessing each grant individually. The National Science Foundation used the most keywords, drawing them from a 2024 report by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, which alleged the Biden administration had politicized science. The NSF search terms included words related to injustice, ally, prejudice, discrimination, historically, minority, and traumatic.
The National Institutes of Health used a shorter but similar list, which included terms such as workforce diversity and health equity. The Department of Defense used similar terms, but also targeted projects related to climate change and green energy. The termination of grants based on these keywords violated the First Amendment rights of the affected researchers, who have asked a federal judge to rule the revocations unconstitutional.
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