INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Shortly after its inauguration, the Trump administration has made no secret that it isn't especially interested in funding research
Before January's end, major science agencies had instituted pauses on research funding, and grant funding has not been restored to previous
Many individual grants have been targeted on ideological grounds, and agencies like the National Science Foundation are expected to see
Since then, individual universities have been targeted, starting with an ongoing fight with Columbia University over $400 million in
research funding.This week, however, it appears that the targeting of university research has entered overdrive, with multiple announcements
of funding freezes targeting several universities
Should these last for any considerable amount of time, they will likely cripple research at the targeted universities.On Wednesday, Science
learned that the National Institutes of Health has frozen all of its research funding to Columbia, despite the university agreeing to steps
previously demanded by the administration and the resignation of its acting president
In 2024, Columbia had received nearly $700 million in grants from the NIH, with the money largely going to the university's prestigious
medical and public health schools.But the attack goes well beyond a single university
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced a hold on all research funding to Northwestern University (nearly $800 million) and Cornell
These involved money granted by multiple government agencies, including a significant amount from the Department of Defense in Cornell's
Ostensibly, all of these actions were taken because of the university administrators' approach to protests about the conflict in Gaza, which
the administration has characterized as allowing antisemitism.
