Der große Raubzug auf die Wissenschaftsfinanzierung

Schreibe ich seit Jahren – inzwischen kommt es zunehmend in das Bewusstsein.

Der Skeptical Inquirer (wusste gar nicht, dass es so etwas gibt): The Ideological Hijacking of Science Funding

There is nothing more indicative of the morphing of good, progressive intentions into a hectoring, dictatorial regime of illiberalism and forced ideological conformity than the current DEI apparatus.

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In many programs, diversity does not seem to mean welcoming people from vastly different backgrounds, views, or socioeconomic conditions. It means a laser focus on certain racial minorities (not Jews and Asians) and certain gender identities. Equity does not seem to mean equality of opportunity to ensure fairness regardless of race or gender. It means a regime of racial and gender representation that perfectly reflects population demographics, with any departure chalked up to racism or sexism. Inclusion does not apparently include White people—and White men in particular—Jews, Asians, straight people, and the able. Often it doesn’t include these folks even if the people in these categories are in and of themselves poor and struggling.

That kind of oppressive, identitarian DEI apparatus has insinuated itself into almost every category of institution, from the academy to the nonprofit world to corporate America. But where it is doing the most damage to people concerned about promoting and advancing science is in the arena of grant funding, where fealty to DEI has become a requirement for many science grants. Considerations of merit have been nudged aside in its service.

An important piece on the issue appeared in July in The Chronicle of Higher Education by authors Robert George and Anna Krylov (George and Krylov 2024). Titled “The Ruthless Politicization of Science Funding,” the authors document just how extreme this orthodoxy has become and how much of science funding has been negatively impacted. They lay much of the blame on a federal mandate issued early on by then-President Joe Biden through executive orders (specifically EO 13985 and EO 14091). These executive orders essentially required scientists to demonstrate that their research and their teams advance DEI goals in ways that can take precedence over merit.

Es ist das, was ich seit Jahren, in Bezug auf Gender Studies seit 2012, hier beschreibe:

Es geht nicht um Wissenschaft. Es geht um den Raub der Wissenschaftsfinanzierung. Gender und Frauenquote sind ordinäre Schutzgelderpressung: Wenn Du forschen willst, musst Du Schutzgeld abgeben.

In their Chronicle piece, George and Krylov describe the current situation for scientists who hope to receive research funding from one of these federal agencies: the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The authors say that what was once an exercise in pure scientific merit has changed. Now, scientists must demonstrate how their proposed research will promote DEI goals. That means first confessing the sins of their own institutions or fields of study as being part of a systemic problem—whether that is true or not and whether they believe it is true or not—then laying out a plan for remediation.

Es geht nur noch darum, wieviel Schutzgeld und Nutzen für die linke Mafia anfallen.

Ich hatte das beschrieben und auch in der damaligen Serie von Fernsehsendungen bei Harald Eia kam das vor: „Feministische Theorien“ haben keinerlei Realitätsbezug und keinerlei wissenschaftlichen Gehalt. Es sind frei erfundene, willkürliche, oft auch gelogene Behauptungen, die allein danach bewertet werden, wieviel Geld man damit erpressen kann.

George and Krylov point out if you are a scientist applying for funding from the National Science Foundation’s Centers for Chemical Innovation grants, a two-page Diversity and Inclusion Plan is required. The funding agency wants to see “diversity and inclusion” in the research team “at all levels” and in leadership and advisory groups. In other words, building a team is an exercise in racial and gender bean counting.

Es geht nicht mehr um Forschung und Wissenschaft. Es geht darum, an den Universitäten alle auf die Ideologie und damit das Zahlen von Schutzgeld abzurichten.

Und das geht vor allem auf die Dems und die Biden-Regierung zurück:

Just how far all this has gone was driven home by a startling report by Senator Ted Cruz (“New Cruz Investigation” 2024). When the report was released in October, Cruz was the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. His not-subtle press release declared, “New Cruz Investigation Reveals How Biden-Harris Diverted Billions from Scientific Research to DEI Activists,” and it included the accompanying table of funding over the past four years for the National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the federal government’s main science grant-making institutions.

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The Cruz report identifies a Biden Administration–created “Task Force on Scientific Integrity” that was charged with reviewing “the impact on scientific integrity of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices” at all science agencies. The Task Force determined that federal science agencies should incorporate “DEIA considerations into all aspects of science planning, execution, and communication” (the “A” stands for accessibility).

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And it’s not just that science research dollars are being used to support an ideological agenda that condemns White biologists, chemists, physicists, geologists, engineers, and computer scientists for their race. It’s that this makes science a subjective and politicized endeavor rather than what it should be: a highly competitive, rigorous, evidence-based enterprise with measurable standards and outcomes that advance America’s scientific and technological prowess without regard for who is doing it.

Trust in science has sharply declined since the COVID-19 pandemic and has done so most starkly along partisan lines (Achenbach 2024). Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center show that among Republicans confidence in scientists went from 85 percent in April 2020 to 66 percent in October 2024. Whereas 88 percent of Democrats expressed confidence in scientists in the latest survey (Tyson and Kennedy 2024). Science and scientists have lost their perceived political neutrality, and that is not a good outcome for any of us.

Und wir fallen damit gerade so richtig auf die Schnauze.