No Funding for Colleges Promoting DEI, Boycotting Israel: National Science Foundation

Schools found in violation of the new requirements may be asked to pay back grants received.

Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel groups face off in front of the entrance of Columbia University in New York on April 22, 2024. Charly Triballeau /AFP

The National Science Foundation (NSF) said it will no longer award grants to colleges and universities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or participate in boycotts against Israel.

The federal agency, which oversees billions of dollars in funding for science and engineering research and education, issued updated grant guidelines on May 19. The changes take effect immediately and apply to all new grants as well as amendments to existing ones.

The new requirements expand the terms and conditions tied to federal anti-discrimination laws for institutions receiving NSF funding. To qualify for grants, a school must not operate “any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology” or participate in any boycott against Israel.

The guidelines clarify that such boycotts include academic boycotts of Israeli institutions, as well as “refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel.”

Boycott demands were a central part of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests that swept college campuses across the United States. Those efforts hardly found any success, as college administrators have almost universally rejected them.

In one rare case, the president of California’s Sonoma State University agreed to an academic boycott of Israel to end a protest encampment. He was placed on administrative leave shortly afterward and eventually resigned, with California State University system leaders accusing him of insubordination.

According to the updated NSF rules, schools found in violation of the new requirements may have to give grant money back.

“NSF reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal anti-discriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott,” the guidance reads.

An NSF spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the changes align with broader directives from the Trump administration regarding how federal agencies manage financial assistance. The National Institutes of Health implemented nearly identical grant restrictions last month.

The NSF’s policy shift comes about a month after NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan stepped down following more than five years in the role. In the final weeks of his tenure, the agency announced sweeping changes to its research funding priorities in line with President Donald Trump’s order to stop federal dollars from being used to fund DEI initiatives.

As part of that overhaul, the NSF canceled funding for programs aimed at increasing participation of women and racial minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), stating that such efforts are not relevant to its mission.

“Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities,” Panchanathan said in a statement at the time.

NSF has recently come under heightened scrutiny from members of Congress. In February, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) released a list of more than 3,400 NSF-funded university projects—totaling $2.04 billion—that he said promote a “far-left ideology” through their emphasis on DEI and “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.”

Among those NSF grants the senator highlighted was a $1,034,751 award in 2023 to Northwestern University for a project that aimed to “reimagine” STEM education through a “racial equity” framework. He also pointed to a $99,791 grant to the Georgia Institute of Technology for a project addressing “racialized privilege in the STEM classroom.”

In another example, the NSF in 2022 awarded $401,744 to San José State University for an ongoing initiative to train teachers and students as “climate justice action researchers and change agents.”

“DEI initiatives have poisoned research efforts, eroded confidence in the scientific community, and fueled division among Americans,” Cruz, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said in a statement. “Congress must end the politicization of NSF funding and restore integrity to scientific research.”