Faculty research at Tufts has been limited by the cancellation of grants and the withdrawal of research funding across the country since President Donald Trump took office last winter. These changes, following the shuttering of federal agencies and shifts in research priorities by the federal administration, have left faculty members in humanities departments are facing uncertainty with limited institutional support.
One professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy who was granted anonymity to avoid retribution when applying for future federal grants, discussed their experience with losing funding as a result of the closure of USAID. While their research has not stopped entirely, it has become limited in its scope.
“There’s absolutely no money for travel, there’s no money for hiring research assistants. There’s no money for basically collecting new information, unless it can be done remotely,” the professor said.
They noted that this impact extends to the humanitarian sector as a whole.
“It’s not so much about research, per se, as it is about the loss of experienced people from the humanitarian sector,” the professor said. “It has a huge impact on the ability of our sector to provide services to people that have been caught in disasters or conflicts.”
The Friedman School has responded to the recent funding gap with changes to educational programs, such as shifting the Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance program from a one-year, master’s program on-campus to an online course. This change is intended to minimize costs and potential visa issues for students, many of whom are from countries afflicted by conflict or disaster.
“I personally don’t think that the quality of the experience is quite as good for people if it’s online compared to if it’s in person,” the professor said. “If that program is successful in bringing in more students, then obviously that will help to defray some of the costs.”
Researchers have also begun looking overseas for possible sponsors. However, according to the professor, even European companies have begun cutting back on grants, further placing researchers in a difficult position.
Packard Professor of Theology Brian Hatcher has also been affected by federal funding changes. He had been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and had been planning to take the next academic year off teaching to work on his next book.
Last spring, Hatcher received communication informing him that he had lost his NEH grant. He had applied for other grants, which gave him the opportunity to take a month-long fellowship this semester.
Hatcher met with staff in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, who told him they were unable to make up for the lost funding the NEH grant would have provided him.
“They took meetings with us to see what our situation was, [but] they couldn’t offer, weren’t willing to offer, any compensation or anything, but they certainly understood and felt the pain and the sort of injustice of it,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher also thinks that the cancellation of NEH grants will have negative impacts for anyone early on in their career.
“For them, it might mean the difference between getting out their first book, and the first book in academia is usually the key to getting tenure and promotion at your institution,” Hatcher said.
In April, the NEH began rescinding grants already promised to researchers, arts programs and cultural groups. The agency announced in April that it cancelled awards that focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental justice.
Additionally, it cancelled awards that it claimed “may not inspire public confidence in the use of taxpayer funds.”
“It’s a kind of attempt to shut down the very lifeblood of the university, which is to ask those tough, historical and critical questions, and promote discourse and conversation and argument from all sides,” Hatcher said.
According to Julia Svoboda, chair of the Department of Education and president of the Tufts chapter of the American Association University Professors, Tufts has not committed to a general policy to respond to funding uncertainty.
“The pace of how cuts are announced, the legal battles, and the lack of a clear policy from the university for how it will support faculty all contribute to this uncertainty,” Svoboda wrote in a statement to the Daily.
She added that local members of the AAUP have been gathering information about faculty members impacted by grant cancellation and advocating for a voice in university leadership. Svoboda also called on university leadership to support faculty.
“I think there is a reluctance to commit to a policy of support given the uncertainty of what is to come,” Svoboda wrote. “Still, we see these cuts as an opportunity to show that Tufts will not allow its faculty’s research agendas to be set by the whims of an authoritarian and anti-intellectual administration.”
