2mo ago

Scores of Researchers Receive Termination Notices After Federal Government Cuts Most Grants to Harvard

www.thecrimson.com

Scores of Researchers Receive Termination Notices After Federal Government Cuts Most Grants to Harvard | News | The Harvard Crimson

More than 100 Harvard researchers received termination notices for federally funded research projects on Thursday, as sweeping cuts to the majority of Harvard’s federal grants begin taking effect across the University’s labs.

The notices, delivered via email from Harvard’s Grants Management Application Suite, informed recipients that their projects had been terminated “per notice from the federal funding agency” and contained a list of terminated grants.

“You are receiving this e-mail because one (or more) of your projects have been terminated,” the emails read.

Harvard Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs Kelly Morrison and Chief Research Compliance Officer Ara Tahmassian had warned the researchers in a separate Wednesday email that the majority of Harvard’s awards from federal agencies were terminated.

“The University has received letters from most federal agencies indicating that the majority of our active, direct federal grants have been terminated,” they wrote to recipients.

Some of the terminated grants exceeded $1 million, funding entire research operations, including salaries for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and lab technicians.

51 comments

Harvard saying they wouldn't comply with Trump and fight it in court was great.
If they really wanted to do "The Right Thing", they have the billions to keep these projects funded for several years while they fight. But I guess that's too much to ask.
- If they really wanted to do "The Right Thing", they have the billions to keep these projects funded for several years while they fight.
  No, they don't. Where do you think they could just magic up money?
  Edit:
  "They have an endowment!"
  What do you people think an endowment is? It's not a rainy day slush fund. It's thousands of individual funds that are invested which Harvard, and other schools, use to generate income. But it's the investment that generates income. If they spend down the endowment then it's gone and no more money for the future.
  Think of it like a savings account where you live off the interest generated. If you spend the savings, no more interest.
  Also - like 80% of that money must be spent in certain schools, types of research, supporting certain students, etc. They can't legally use it for anything else.
  https://finance.harvard.edu/endowment
  
  The donations that people have made over the years, giving them the largest endowment in world history?
  It’s kinda like asking “how is Elon Musk going to pay for that?” I don’t know, how about with some of his money.
  
  Harvard is known for having one of the most enormous endowments of any college anywhere.
  
  The Harvard University endowment, valued at $53.2 billion as of June 30, 2024, is the largest academic endowment in the world
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University_endowment
  
  They have money...
Who needs research when you don't have a future? - America
- How do you get a future if you don't do research? - Academia
Europe welcomes scientists from a country that does not value science.
- You should tell Germany to stop arresting and banning people who post anti-genocide stuff on social media
- Mmm... brains.
- As does Canada.
- reverse brain drain, all the scientist that left europe decades ago, is probalby going to reclaim some of it back.
Exactly the move you'd expect from the dumbest government in history... their strategy has the foresight of a bat with laryngitis
US dominance on pretty much anything is over
Well, Europe welcomes them, their talents and their research. And it's a stable place, which in any other circumstance would just be the bare minimum instead of an actual benefit.
- Can't wait to move. Fuck this country.
- I'm leaving a university in the US that's not heavily reliant upon soft money (grants/donations), but we're still losing research support in various ways to this crazy administration. I start at a school in Europe in the fall. I guess I'll go teach and do engineering research there since the US isn't really interested in having academia exist.
  
  congrats on getting out, is yours a PHD/MS, or a bs? i only have a bs in CMB,, since labs are notoriously hard on experience and research.
- Very excited to watch as the US lags behind in research because basically anyone with more intelligence than President Cheeto left for Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand.
  
  phds, mds are usually the first to leave once a govt trainsition into a full fascist state, they know they are the first argets. then they will start persecuting POCS, and lgbtq+, and enemies, and then thier own loyalists,. it is a matter of time before US military tech falls behind, if they expel too many scientists from the aeronautics, weapons industry, via the Universities they source them from.
  remember what happened to germany when most of thier jewish scientist had to flee, no atom bomb for them.
  
  America healthy again. If no research.
Very unfortunate to the people affected Canada should try to recruit these researchers
- Already happening.
  
  I'm not even done with medical school and I get targeted advertisements about how well British Columbia treats their doctors.
- already happening, doctors choose to stay in canada now, instead of a bougie position in ucla.
These guys know the cost of everything and the value of nothing
- I assure you they do not know the cost of everything. Example: DOGE didn't look at cutting expenses in any of this most of expensive programs, like military spending and social security.
Next foot!
I said next foot!
Good

51 comments