Cultural groups across the country received notices yesterday of the abrupt cancellation of their National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants, according to The New York Times, and according to other sources, some individual grant recipients, including philosophers, have had their NEH grants terminated.
The National Alliance for the Humanities has been warning that the Trump administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) was coming for the NEH and released a statement in its defense, which various organizations, including the American Philosophical Association, signed onto. The Alliance also has been calling for people to contact their officials—something they made it very easy to do with this online form.
The recent cuts included, according the the NYT, the “blanket cancellation of funding for humanities councils in 56 states and jurisdiction.”
More cuts are on the way, reports the NYT:
[M]anagers told staff members that DOGE had recommended reductions in staff of as much as 70 to 80 percent (of approximately 180 people), as well as what could amount to a cancellation of all grants made under the Biden administration that have not been fully paid out.
It is likely we will be hearing from more of our recent NEH grant winning colleagues that their grants have been suspended or rescinded.
UPDATE: Below is a redacted letter sent to an academic researcher whose grant was cancelled.
Confirmed philosophy grant cancelled, including two sub-awards and support for graduate students.
I received a termination notice for my NEH Fellowship last night.
OMG. For “Divine and Created Causation in Medieval Philosophy”?! I expected there to be cancellations, but they are apparently just canceling everything. I’m sorry, Gloria. I hope University of St. Thomas finds a way to support your work anyway. Same to all the rest of those affected by this recklessness.
Could someone share the context or language of the cancelation letter, please?
Hi Fritz. I’ve added a redacted screenshot of one of the cancellation letters to the end of the original post.
I did an NEH funded summer school a few years ago. It was a highlight of my philosophical career. I’m sad to see those opportunities disappear. I’m sad for the people who put such hard work into building proposals for those funds and for junior faculty/grad students for whom they will not be a boon.
Today I received one of these letters for a multi-year grant project I was co-directing.
Experts: What does it mean in the attached letter that the grantee’s obligations under the grant agreement continue to apply? Maybe I don’t know what “agreement” means?
It means we have to fulfill the obligations of reporting progress of the project and use of funds even after the it is cancelled. This is already a part of the normal procedures. The talk about auditing, however, stands out as an unusually specific thing to mention.
Thanks!
My NEH was also cancelled.
We also received a version of this same letter terminating a 2025-2028 NEH grant for which I am Co-PI: “Philosophy as a Way of Life: A Humanities Approach to Becoming a ‘Good’ Engineer”
Project Description: A three-year initiative to redesign a philosophy course required for engineering students using immersive assignments and peer-led dialogue.
I’m pretty sure there was a blanket cancellation of all the NEH grants that were announced back in January. What I most resent in the letter is the assertation that our grant was cancelled for “several reasonable causes.”