AFA Calls for End to Required Diversity Statements in Federal Grant Funding
New guidance statement warns of the dangers of compelled speech to research integrity and academic freedom
PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance today called on federal agencies that fund research in STEMM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) to desist from requiring DEI statements in their grant proposals.
Widespread requirements for such statements have been implemented rapidly with far too little attention to their potential misuse, their effects on quality and integrity of funded research, and the threat they represent to academic freedom. Just as mandatory DEI statements in hiring are being discontinued, the AFA’s guidance statement urges federal agencies to shift to alternative approaches to cultivating participation of all individuals regardless of their identities.
“Though the details of DEI requirements vary across agencies and programs, common features include vagueness of their goals and lack of outcome assessments, along with an implicit expectation of allegiance to a politicized litmus test that is, in effect, compelled speech on a controversial issue in violation of academic freedom,” wrote the AFA in its guidance statement.
The statement, available in its entirety here, continues: “Federally funded STEMM research is a crown jewel of American higher education and confers enormous benefits upon our society and the world. The integrity of the processes whereby funding decisions are made is of critical importance to the continued success of the enterprise and to its support by the public from whom the funds derive.”
The AFA’s guidance statement was prepared by AFA members Jeffrey Flier of Harvard Medical School, Robert P. George of Princeton University, Anna Krylov of the University of Southern California, Luana Maroja of Williams College, Julia Schaletzky of U.C. Berkeley, and Abigail Thompson of U.C. Davis.*
The statement follows publication of a new peer-reviewed research paper by an international group of researchers, including the AFA members listed above, raising the alarm about U.S. science funding increasingly being tied to compliance with DEI ideology. Their groundbreaking article documents how U.S. funding agencies have begun to impose DEI requirements as a prerequisite for STEMM funding and explains why this is a threat to academic freedom and research integrity.
“Funding decisions require expert peer review to assess the merit of proposals and the quality of research teams,” said Jeffrey Flier. “Though arising from worthy goals, the introduction of poorly justified and operationalized DEI considerations into peer review threatens the integrity and quality of science funding decisions.”
According to author Anna Krylov, “Using science funding for the promotion and adoption of ideologically driven DEI programs undermines the integrity of science funding, contributes to the politicization of science, and generates the warranted resentment of the American people.”
Julia Schaletzky adds: “By design, many science-funding agencies are independent from the government and cannot be directed to do their research a certain way, but the Biden administration has circumvented this by forcing them to comply through the budget process, tying next year’s budget allocation to implementation of ideologically driven DEI plans at all levels.”
Co-author Robert George states: “It is time to acknowledge that a wrong turn has been taken and return to merit-based science funding.”
*University affiliations are mentioned for identification purposes only.