According to a U.S. Senate Committee Report, over 25% of National Science Foundation (NSF) grants in early 2024 were dedicated to projects promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or class-based ideologies. 

This shift, some argue, redirects federal funds away from traditional scientific inquiry toward what critics label as ideological or cultural warfare. The NSF’s policies, introduced in 2021, intentionally incorporate DEI considerations into all aspects of science planning, execution, and communication.

Of the awarded grants, in the gender category, many of the 1,058 grants were awarded to fund research that examined the potential impacts of misgendering individuals or using incorrect pronouns. 

An additional 3,160 grants were awarded under the status category, which funded research on race, ethnicity, and social groups. These projects explored whether STEM fields contain inherent biases against certain communities. Similarly, 2,585 grants were categorized as social justice awards, focusing on providing STEM opportunities to students from underrepresented backgrounds, which excluded white men. 

The Free Press highlighted some of the specific studies, including $569,851 for a project to examine “sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming students.” The University of Georgia received $644,642 to “identify systemic racism in mathematics teacher education.”

Public trust in the scientific community has notably declined since the COVID-19 pandemic, with less than 60% of Americans now believing science has a positive societal impact, compared to 75% in 2019.