Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
Universities across the United States are feeling the effects from a wave of policies the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency say are aimed at making the government more productive.
Eos will update this list as more developments unfold. If you have a tip about a university program affected by new policies or cutbacks, please contact us at [email protected].
15 April update: After Harvard University announced it would not comply with policy changes demanded by the Trump administration, the federal government announced a freeze of $2.2 billion in federal funding for the university.
“The disruption that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable,” the U.S. Department of Education’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a statement. “It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
Harvard updated its letter after publication to indicate a willingness to engage in dialogue with the administration. The letter changed a phrase stating that the university “will not negotiate over its independence or constitutional rights” to one stating that it “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” The update also clarified that the university was “open to dialogue” but would not “agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.”
The government statement did not clarify which grants would be affected by the freeze.
14 April update: Harvard University has chosen not to comply with policy changes demanded by the Trump administration, according to a letter sent from the university to the federal government.
On 11 April, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard president Alan Garber asking the university to comply with a set of terms in order to “maintain Harvard’s financial relationship with the federal government,” which includes billions of dollars in federal research funding. Terms presented in the letter included reforming the university’s hiring and admissions practices, agreeing to an external audit to ensure “viewpoint diversity,” discontinuing all DEI programs, offices, and policies, and banning masks on campus.
Harvard said it will not accept the proposed agreement. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber said in a statement.
“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said.
10 April update: On 9 April, Science reported that the National Institutes of Health is freezing all remaining grant money owed to Columbia University. The news comes just weeks after the Trump administration first cut $400 million in federal grants to the university, including $250 million in NIH grants.
An NIH source told Science that, in addition to blocking new funding to the university, NIH will also stop paying researchers working on existing projects. Scientists will require approval from NIH before drawing from existing disbursements.
9 April update: The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on 8 April that it was ending $4 million in grants to Princeton University that funded cooperative agreements with NOAA. Three programs in particular will lose funding, effective June 30, 2025.
Research programs being cut include efforts to model Earth systems, climate change, and water availability. The Department of Commerce announcement said the programs were “no longer in keeping with the Trump Administration’s priorities.”
The announcement stated that one cooperative agreement “suggests that the Earth will have a significant fluctuation in its water availability as a result of global warming,” and that “using federal funds to perpetuate these narratives does not align with the priorities of this Administration.”
According to the announcement, funding to another climate and Earth systems modeling project was cut because the research “promotes exaggerated and implausible climate threats.”
1 April update: Dozens of federal grants to Princeton University, from sources including NASA and the Department of Energy, have been halted by the Trump administration, according to AP, the New York Times, and other sources. It is among more than 50 schools, including almost all of the nation’s Ivy League universities, being investigated by the Department of Education for accusations of antisemitism. Princeton’s most recent report states that it received $455 million in federal grants during the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
The university’s president, Christopher Eisgruber, said in a statement that the university is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination,” as well as defending academic freedom and due process rights. He also said Princeton will comply with the law.
On 19 March, Eisgruber wrote a piece in The Atlantic voicing concern over funding cuts at Columbia University.
“The Trump administration’s recent attack on Columbia University puts [research universities] at risk, presenting the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s. Every American should be concerned,” he wrote.
31 March update: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the General Services Administration announced a plan to review more than $255 million in contracts between Harvard University, its affiliates and the federal government “as part of an investigation aimed at eliminating anti-Semitic harassment on college campuses.” The agencies are also reviewing more than $8.7 billion in multiyear grant commitments to the university and its affiliates “to ensure the university is in compliance with federal regulations, including its civil rights responsibilities.”
Republicans have criticized the way universities, including Harvard and Columbia, have responded to campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war. Earlier this month, in response to a subpoena from a House committee, Harvard provided thousands of pages of documents detailing its efforts to combat antisemitism.
28 March update: On Thursday, 27 March, the federal government launched investigations into whether Stanford University and three University of California campuses (UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine) are complying with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions. In a statement, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said she and the president “dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country.”
The Trump administration also launched an investigation into the California Department of Education, according to the Associated Press. The investigation concerns a 2024 law that bans school districts from adopting policies requiring staff to disclose information about a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to parents, or any other person, without the child’s consent, unless otherwise required by law.
24 March update: As reported by the Washington Post and other outlets, Columbia University agreed to comply with demands made by the Trump administration, including banning masks used to conceal identities and hiring 36 officers with the authority to arrest students. This comes in the wake of the administration cancelling $400 million in federal contracts and grants to the institution. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told CNN that the university is “on the right track so that we can now move forward.”
19 March: The University of California announced to employees it would implement a system-wide hiring freeze across all 10 of the system’s campuses, six academic health centers, and three national laboratories. The system employs approximately 265,000 faculty and staff, according to its website, and is home to some of the top Earth and space science programs in the country. Princeton University, ranked #1 among national universities by U.S. News & World Report, also announced a hiring freeze.
19 March: The administration paused $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) for defying “his executive order banning biological males from infiltrating women’s sports,” according to a FOX News video posted by a White House account. DOGE’s Elon Musk is a 1997 Penn graduate.
BREAKING: The Trump Administration has "paused $175 million in federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania" over its policies forcing women to compete with men in sports.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 19, 2025
Promises made, promises kept. pic.twitter.com/o4yiiqtH9d
17 March: As reported by WBUR, Bunker Hill Community College cancelled its summer study abroad programs, in which several dozen students planned to travel out of the country to study topics including wildlife conservation and ecology. Administrators cited concerns about international students being unable to re-enter the United States after the trip. Other schools, including Brown University, are advising international students and employees to delay international, and even domestic, travel.
14 March: Johns Hopkins University is cutting more than 2,000 jobs, many of them abroad, citing the loss of $800 million worth of USAID grants.
13 March (updated 26 March): Brown University enacted a hiring freeze.
11 March: Eos reported that The National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs), competitive summer research opportunities, are being cancelled at institutions across the nation. Some are also freezing or reducing admissions to graduate programs.
10 March: Harvard University announced a hiring freeze, citing “substantial financial uncertainties driven by rapidly shifting federal policies” faced by institutions across the nation. It is home to some of the nation’s top programs in Earth sciences.
7 March: The Trump administration cancelled $400 million in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University. In a letter to the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, representatives from the administration said they would reconsider the terminated funding if the university agreed to a list of demands, including placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies departments on “academic receivership,” a rarely invoked move in which a college administration takes over a department.
David Damrosch, a professor of comparative literature at Harvard University, told the Chronicle of Higher Education the move was “bizarre and unprecedented.” “I have never heard of it in a democratic society,” he said. According to a 19 March Wall Street Journal report, the university is preparing to agree to the demands.
26 February: Stanford University, which has top-ranking programs in environmental sciences, geochemistry, geology, and geophysics and seismology, announced a hiring freeze.
—Emily Dieckman (@emfurd.bsky.social), Associate Editor
These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at [email protected].
