The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently proposed overhauling federal grantmaking guidelines to require that political appointees approve every federal grant, replacing the current peer review process with the discretion of the administration. The proposed regulations would also prohibit certain research topics and methods and would allow the government to cancel active grants that are deemed inconsistent with agency priorities. Fifteen scholars from the Scholars Strategy network submitted public comments to the OMB in response to this proposal. Drawing on their research, disciplinary expertise, and professional experience, their comments explain how these regulatory changes would undermine the integrity of federal grantmaking, weaken the scientific and scholarly review processes that ensure funding decisions rest on merit, and threaten academic freedom and the United States’ capacity for independent research production.
Scholars Warn Proposed Rule Threatens Research Independence
15 Scholars Respond to OMB's Proposal to Overhaul the Federal Grantmaking Process
Monique Anair
"Over time, these changes will hinder the development of effective educational practices and diminish our nation's capacity to foster innovation, economic growth, and global competitiveness."
Cheron H. Davis
"The nation’s literacy challenges demand more trustworthy evidence, not greater political control over which questions may be studied or which findings may be supported."
Claire Dunning
"The proposed changes, however, represent a marked—and dangerous—departure from the history of federal grantmaking in the United States that will ultimately undermine stated goals and erode public trust in the government and the nonprofit sector. "
Carvis C. Durr
"I oppose the proposed revisions because they would weaken scientific independence, undermine peer review, reduce transparency, increase administrative burdens, and harm U.S. leadership in research and innovation."
Shaunesse' Jacobs Plaisimond
"There is a better way, much of which is already in place through peer review of merit awarding, that supports OMB’s stated goals and honors the work of scientific experts justly awarded funding critical to the nation’s wellbeing."
Andrew Kwok
"These rules undermine the scientific foundation needed for meaningful teacher preparation and equitable classroom practices."
Elizabeth Lanphier
"I am concerned for the ways in which these proposed changes will harm every aspect of our lives—from the healthcare we can receive, to the roads we drive on, to the education my own children and each of our children receive."
Taryn Morrissey
"The proposed rule would have a severe, negative impact on the quality and quantity of rigorous science produced in the United States, with lasting, harmful impacts on Americans’ quality of life."
Benjamin Railton
"The changes would, in short, greatly curtail faculty research and likely end entirely collaborative research efforts on campus. The results would be catastrophic for our students, and through them for our communities."
Thomas F. Remington
"The U.S. stands in danger of losing its proud position globally, just as the Soviet Union fell further and further back until the very system collapsed."
Barbara J. Risman
"The proposed changes represent a dangerous departure from the meritocratic system that has made American science the best in the world."
Stuart Shapiro
"OMB should acknowledge both the unfunded mandate on state governments and conduct a more detailed economic analysis of this major change in research funding."
Sharon S. Tisher
"The proposed rule’s quixotic effort to revise the nature of science runs afoul of numerous established environmental statutes."
Beverly Anne Wagner
"By politicizing decision-making, this policy change risks eroding public trust, isolating American research, and undermining scientific objectivity."
Miranda Elyse Yaver
"Politicizing the grant review proces is yet another dangerous step toward destabilizing the research that has driven America’s comparative advancement and on which American patients and others rely."