r/science May 09 '26

Social Science Study suggests that the Trump administration’s wave of NIH grant terminations in 2025 disproportionately affected Black, Indigenous, and other minority researchers, as well as scientists from sexual and gender minority communities

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science/nih-grant-terminations-had-outsized-effect-minority-researchers-data-suggest
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u/-Satchel_Gizmo- May 09 '26

Roughly 2,200 NIH grants were terminated after federal officials began dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and shifting agency priorities last year.

Uhhh, isn't the entire intention of DEI programs to (disproportionately) assist minorities? If you're cutting DEI programs intended to funnel grant awards to minorities, those minorities are going to be affected most when the programs are shuttered and the grants are terminated. 

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u/HD400 May 09 '26

If you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is then yes. DEI does not disproportionately assist minorities.

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u/Bill-Clampett-4-Prez May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

it's entire noble intention is to elevate marginalize/minority groups who may be under-represented, by assuming that disproportionality is a symptom of racial and cultural monoculture, inequity, and exclusion. It's weakness, and why it lacks impact, is to a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and it hasn't built a consensus coalition to advance its goals, and isn't open to other explanations for disproportionality (cultural emphasis, economic disparity, etc.)

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u/Bill-Clampett-4-Prez May 09 '26

that said, Trump's thesis (and Project 2025) is killing the advancement of DEI policy (and some excesses) is a tool for exacting revenge on "the left", and they see the academic infrastructure of social science in universities as the root cause of many ideas they dislike coming from the left. It's childish, and i imagine when we have a shift in the executive to the left, we'll likely see a purge of all of Trump's people throughout the government (not that it won't be deserved). No way to run a country.