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.
Very unfortunate to the people affected Canada should try to recruit these researchers
Who needs research when you don’t have a future? - America
How do you get a future if you don’t do research? - Academia
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.
The Harvard University endowment, valued at $53.2 billion as of June 30, 2024, is the largest academic endowment in the world
That’s not how it works though. They just can’t put that money to anything (same with other higher education). If the Gates Foundation provided them $1B for research of AI… it can only go to that. If they use it for something else, Harvard can get sued.
Let’s not forget that the endowment tax is going up to as much as 18% (or higher) soon… once that big dumb bill gets passed.
Harvard is known for having one of the most enormous endowments of any college anywhere.
Same to you - what do you think an endowment is?
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.
You have no idea what an endowment is.
What do you think an endowment is?
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.
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.
Can’t wait to move. Fuck this country.
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.
America healthy again. If no research.
