UPDATE: This story was updated at 1:49 p.m. CST on Feb. 25 to include a statement from the university.
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) released a database on Feb. 11 flagging 3,483 National Science Foundation grants awarded during the Biden-Harris administration toward “questionable projects” allegedly promoting diversity, equity and inclusion or advancing “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.” Among the listed grants are 15 awarded to Vanderbilt totaling $4,941,175, one $20,000 grant to VUMC and seven collaborative research projects awarded $400,378 in funding.
Cruz’s investigation targets over $2.05 billion in federal funding. According to a press release by the committee, the goal of the database is to influence cuts to grant funding allocated by NSF in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders to limit DEI initiatives and research funding. Cruz has recommended “strict scrutiny” of the grants listed in the database.
The database flags each grant as relating to social justice, race, gender and/or environmental justice. The majority of Vanderbilt’s grants fall under the social justice category — with 17 individual and collaborative grants totaling $3.9 million.
Some of the flagged projects include an archive documenting the ways in which “disabled people use remote access to form community” and efforts to improve belonging and retention in STEM among underserved groups through the Learning Assistant program. Other projects that appear less pertinent to DEI, such as developing mechanochemical methods to minimize solvent use, may have been flagged for their outreach components — in this case, to “women, underserved groups and middle and high school students.”
One student, who has served as an LA for various STEM courses, spoke to The Hustler on the condition of anonymity for professional retribution. The student cautioned against limitations on DEI initiatives within STEM education.
“If the U.S. wants to remain a leader in science, we have to ensure our science education is accessible to students from all backgrounds, so we don’t lose them in the pipeline from college to the STEM workforce,” the student said.
The student also highlighted the LA program’s goals and critiqued Cruz’s “attack” on STEM research projects.
“The highlighted grant is doing pioneering work to identify the mechanisms by which the LA program supports student retention,” the student said. “It disappoints me that [this] research is being attacked when the societal goals of grants like these will help the U.S. meet its labor demand for scientists, engineers and doctors — something that either side of the political spectrum should see as beneficial.”
Changes to private sector funding
Though President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders are limited to the federal level, private sector funders have made changes, too. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the largest private funders of basic biomedical research, abruptly canceled its $60 million university-based Inclusive Excellence program that aimed to boost diversity and retention in STEM.
Vanderbilt was selected to join this program in 2022, for which the university received a six-year, $1.1 million grant. Of the 104 involved institutions, Vanderbilt was collaborating with 13 partners to specifically improve the “content of the introductory science experience,” which included the training and use of LAs in introductory STEM courses.
The HHMI also scrubbed phrases mentioning diversity and equity from its other programs.
DOE letter urges compliance with anti-DEI orders
In a Feb. 14 “Dear Colleagues” letter, the Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor warned federally funded educational institutions, including Vanderbilt, against race-conscious practices in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, graduation ceremonies and other programming. Institutions that do not comply will risk loss of federal funding.
“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” the letter reads. “Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them — particularly during the last four years — under the banner of ‘[DEI],’ smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming and discipline.”
These instructions come from the DOE’s broad interpretation of the Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) that overturned affirmative action.
“Although SFFA addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly,” Trainor wrote. “At its core, the test is simple: If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law.”
Vanderbilt’s recently renamed Student Center for Belonging and Communities has historically hosted community-specific graduate recognition ceremonies and will continue to host these events this year. These ceremonies were previously open to all students who “identify with the communities being celebrated.” This year, a Feb. 13 SCBC email invited all graduating students “who have been advised by SCBC or [are] friends of the center” to partake in the celebrations.
The DOE letter also addressed adaptations universities like Vanderbilt have made to their admissions processes following the affirmative action ban. Vanderbilt’s existing supplemental essay questions about civil discourse and identity-, culture- or background-informed personal growth align with the DOE’s guidelines.
“A school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students,” Trainor wrote.
A representative from the university said the process to determine potential changes to the admissions cycle for the Class of 2029 has not yet begun.
“The current admissions cycle is still in the final stages and is, as always, in full compliance with the law,” the university statement reads. “Vanderbilt has long employed a holistic admissions process, identifying the highest potential students from a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences; removing barriers to their ability to access a Vanderbilt education; and then putting them in a supportive and challenging environment to help them reach their full potential.”
The DOE will begin to assess compliance with these regulations no later than Feb. 28, per the letter.
