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COGR Quoted:
- 4/2/25: Lawsuit aims to overturn many NIH grant terminations (Science, Director Krystal Toups quoted) Krystal Toups, director of contracts and grant administration at the Washington, D.C.–based advocacy group COGR, says her organization has long been concerned about the “agency priorities” language, which was added to the Office of Management and Budget’s regulations in 2020 as a way to allow the government to end grants . “Today we’re seeing it being applied in this really nontraditional way to terminate projects,” she says. Toups says many were concerned about the language during Trump’s first administration; in a March 2020 letter, COGR wrote that the amendment “provides an arbitrary mechanism for agency officials to terminate an award.” https://www.science.org/content/article/lawsuit-aims-broadly-overturn-nih-s-grant-terminations
- 4/2/25: How Researchers Could Get Their Canceled NIH Grants Back (Inside Higher Ed, Director Krystal Toups quoted) The delay in actually hearing back on the appeals request is a place of concern,” said Krystal Toups, director of contracts and grants administration for COGR, an association of affiliated medical centers, independent research institutes and research universities. And since a new federal budget could pass in September that might include more clear guidelines about federal funding priorities, if researchers want some consideration for continuation of their grants, Toups said they should get their cases in front of the appeals committee “sooner rather than later.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/04/02/how-researchers-could-get-their-canceled-nih
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4/4/25: Trump Administration Lays Out Demands to Harvard to Keep Federal Funding (Wall Street Journal) The Trump administration escalated its campaign against American universities by preparing to pull $510 million in federal grants from Brown University, while also laying out demands Harvard must meet to avoid losing billions in government dollars. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-escalates-university-crackdown-on-harvard-and-brown-3b0b9e68?mod=education_news_article_pos1
See also: Brown Becomes Latest Institution to Have Federal Grants Frozen (Inside Higher Ed) https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/04/04/trump-administration-block-browns-federal-grants
See also: Trump Administration Sends Harvard a List of Demands to Protect Federal Funds (New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/us/politics/trump-harvard-funding-demands.html
See also: If Powerful Places Like Harvard Don’t Stand Up to Trump, Who Can? (New York Times, Opinion) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/opinion/larry-summers-harvard-trump.html?smid=tw-share
4/4/25: Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies (Nature) The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs on imports into the United States — which range from 10% on products from some countries up to 54% on goods from China — are increasing the costs of labware and specialist scientific instruments in the country. The price increases come as research budgets for US labs are stretched thin by unprecedented grant cancellations and cuts to university funding introduced since Donald Trump’s second presidency began in January. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01060-9
4/4/25: States Sue Trump Administration Over Canceled Research Grants (Bloomberg Law) The Trump administration was sued by a group of Democrat-led states that claim the federal government is illegally canceling research grants that fund what they describe as critical medical and scientific advancements. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/states-sue-trump-administration-over-canceled-research-grants?context=search&index=5
4/3/25: NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution (NOT-OD-25-084) https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-084.html
See also: Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2025 (NOT-OD-25-085) https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-085.html
4/3/25: Universities Struggle With NIH Research Funding Disclosure Rules (Bloomberg Law) Most academic institutions receiving federal NIH medical research grants failed to correctly identify supplemental funding sources that must be reported, including those made on behalf of foreign governments, a federal watchdog said. The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General on Thursday released a report that found only 19% of 886 surveyed institutions receiving investment from the National Institutes of Health properly identified the types of monetary donations that must be reported to the NIH. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/universities-struggle-with-nih-research-funding-
disclosure-rules?context=search&index=17 See Full Report Here: https://aboutblaw.com/bhKJ
4/3/25: The Incoherent Policy Change Wreaking Havoc on University Research (The Chronicle, Opinion) The solution shouldn’t be a policy that seems designed to destabilize rather than to reform the current system. Instead, we need an explicit, hard-nosed look at the “fragile contract” between the state and universities that has governed research since World War II. The grounds of that bargain have been shifting since at least the end of the Cold War, but any effort to reset the terms must begin with a broader view: It is time to step away from isolated examples and ask how current IDC policy creates and sustains the research capabilities that have served us so well. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-incoherent-policy-change-wreaking-havoc-on-university-research
4/3/25: Federal advisory panel on ethical, legal issues in human health research disbanded (STAT) A committee of experts that advises the Department of Health and Human Services on emerging ethical and legal issues in human health research has been disbanded, according to an email obtained by STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/03/hhs-advisory-committee-human-research-protections/
4/3/25: NIH under orders to cancel $2.6 billion in contracts (Science) As the nonprofit online news site NOTUS reported on 2 April, the cuts are part of a 35% reduction in contracts that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has requested at each division within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH’s parent agency. Science has learned that emails went out across NIH starting last week calling for staff to review lists of contracts that DOGE suggests could be trimmed or canceled. https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-under-orders-cancel-2-6-billion-contracts
4/3/25: Don’t quit the long game (Science, Editorial) Deep tech ventures are launched by scientist-entrepreneurs and thrive in ecosystems where labs, highly trained individuals, government funding, and risk capital intersect. Universities are key to cultivating deep-tech innovations by supplying the talent, infrastructure, and intellectual freedom essential for the long-term, high-risk research required. Cuts to major sources of support, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Defense, now endanger this innovation environment. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx8118
4/3/25: Take Nature’s poll: How will Trump’s policies affect US science? (Nature) The new administration is reshaping the research landscape in the United States in profound ways. What do you think of all the changes? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01031-0
4/3/25: Federal judge says she will temporarily block billions in health funding cuts to states (AP News) A federal judge will temporarily block President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting billions in federal dollars that support COVID-19 initiatives and public health projects throughout the country. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, appointed by Trump in 2019 but first nominated by former President Barack Obama, in Rhode Island said Thursday that she plans to grant the court order sought by 23 states and the District of Columbia . https://apnews.com/article/trump-covid-federal-money-lawsuit-restraining-order-hhs-4d534b9f04389161f71e3bc541e87d7a
4/3/25: Exclusive: Trump White House directs NIH to study ‘regret’ after transgender people transition (Nature) After cancelling nearly all NIH projects studying transgender health, Trump’s team instructs the US biomedical agency to study negative consequences of transitioning. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01029-8
4/3/25: Cultural groups across U.S. told that federal humanities grants are terminated (NPR) Millions of dollars in previously awarded federal grants intended for arts and cultural groups across the country are being canceled by the Trump administration, according to a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/03/nx-s1-5350994/neh-grants-cut-humanities-doge-trump
4/3/25: Journal targeted by paper mill still grappling with the aftermath years later (Nature) A biotechnology journal that was inundated with paper-mill submissions in 2021 — and claimed in 2023 that it had tackled the problem — still harbours hundreds of dubious papers, an analysis by research-integrity sleuths has found. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01010-5
4/2/25: Researchers, ACLU sue over Trump’s ‘ideological purge’ of NIH grants (Reuters) Scientific researchers on Wednesday sued to secure reinstatement of National Institutes of Health grants that funded research on topics like LGBTQ health, COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy canceled by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration as part of an “ideological purge.” https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/researchers-aclu-sue-over-trumps-ideological-purge-nih-grants-2025-04-02/
4/2/25: Researchers, Higher Ed Union Fight NIH Grant Terminations (Inside Higher Ed) A new lawsuit argues that canceling billions in research grants will delay scientific advancements, compromise human health and even result in deaths. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/04/02/researchers-higher-ed-union-fight-nih-grant
4/2/25: Trump Escalates Punitive University Research Cuts (AIP.org) The Trump administration has threatened to pull research grants from dozens of universities over claims these institutions are failing to do enough to combat antisemitism or comply with other administration priorities, with Harvard University among the latest in its crosshairs. https://ww2.aip.org/fyi/trump-escalates-punitive-university-research-cuts
4/2/25: The Quiet Way the NIH Is Stalling Some Research Before It Starts (The Chronicle) The Chronicle has found that during the last half of March, at least 20 applications were taken out of the first stage of peer review, known as a study section, according to emails, screenshots, and interviews with scientists. They were not rejected outright, but seemingly put on hold by NIH employees who declined to explain why, other than to state in some cases that the agency is conducting “a review of its research priorities.” They also did not say when, or whether, they would ever be evaluated. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-quiet-way-the-nih-is-stalling-some-research-before-it-starts
