In a Feb. 11 press release, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz released a database of over 3,400 National Science Foundation grants awarded toward alleged “questionable” projects that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or “advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.”
The Trustees of IU were named as one of the many recipients of NSF grants on Cruz’s database, totaling 29 grants worth over $15 million since 2022. Grants to IU trustees support the university’s research and creative projects.
IU did not respond to a request for comment.
The NSF is an independent federal agency dedicated to supporting the progress of science and advancing the nation’s health, prosperity and welfare. On its website, the NSF states its investments account for 25% of federal support to American universities for basic research.
In October 2024, Cruz released report alleging over a quarter of NSF spending supports “left-wing ideological crusades masked as ‘academic research.’” According to the press release, the database served as a “backbone” for this report.
“The Trump administration has been taking a sledgehammer to the radical left’s woke nonsense,” Cruz said in the recent press release. “I am proud to release our investigation’s database, which exposes how the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies.”
A week after President Donald Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, the NSF temporarily froze payments to all existing grants in response to a slew of presidential orders that ban all federal funding for DEI efforts. It announced the restoration of these payments Feb. 2 under the condition it will continue to review funding to comply with agency-wide and federal standards.
Now, Cruz has requested significant examination of these specific awards listed on the database.
The grants listed in this database were separated into one or more categories including social justice, race, gender, environmental justice and status.
For IU, 27 of 29 grants identified had the “status" tag. According to the report Cruz created in 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Republican staff defined "status" as any grant that describes a person based on their membership in a population considered underrepresented.
Twenty-three of the NSF grants awarded to IU also fell under the social justice tag, claiming they prioritize inclusivity over scientific advancements. Similarly, seven of the grants also were tagged with race, which were attached to programs aimed at addressing racial inequality.
Nine of the grants fell under the gender category, which according to the report, presents “far-left ideological theories about men, women and other identities.”
Lastly, two of the grants were considered environmental justice projects that “claimed the environmental sciences must be investigated through the lens of left-wing social activism.”
The grants to IU targeted by Cruz that were awarded to IU are set to end within the next few years except seven grants that ended in 2023 and 2024. Moving forward, Cruz has called upon Congress to end the “politicization” of NSF funding and reinstate the credibility of scientific research.
The NSF responded to the possibility of grant termination based on executive orders with an FAQ on its website.
“NSF can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with Executive Orders,” it read.
