Commentary
NIH-Backed Grant Programs Blatantly Discriminate by Applicants’ Race
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In an ideal world, the pursuit of knowledge would be an activity that unites all individuals, regardless of racial or ethnic background, as the benefit of scientific advancement is shared by humanity at large.
Unfortunately, many of the federal government’s efforts to advance the sciences are actively encouraging racial discrimination.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is running a grant program aimed at increasing diversity in the sciences by targeting individuals from “underrepresented” backgrounds. The institutions administering these grants explicitly restrict grant funding to applicants of certain races.
The Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) grant program is designed to help undergraduates from “diverse” backgrounds pursue careers in biomedicine. The program, which began in 2017, specified that the grantors should target “individuals from groups identified as underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences” such as racial minorities and disabled individuals.
The NIH currently lists 16 active ESTEEMED grant programs on its website; each program’s eligibility criteria contains varying degrees of racial preference.
For instance, Clemson University’s “Call Me Doctor ESTEEMED Scholars Program” stipulates that applicants are eligible if they are from the following ethnic backgrounds: “Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native.”
These groups are defined by the NIH as being “underrepresented.”
Similarly, the University of Georgia states that ESTEEMED applicants “must” be from a “diverse background,” which includes an “underrepresented group.”
The University of Colorado at Denver also requires applicants be from an underrepresented group as defined by the NIH. Clarkson University and Washington State University have similar criteria.
There is no legitimate scientific reason for the NIH to encourage racial discrimination as a condition of receiving grant funding.
Prioritizing race over talent and competence invariably leads to worse scientific outcomes and is clearly unethical.
It is unconscionable that academic institutions are engaged in this blatant racism – and that they are hamstringing scientific progress to do so.
Nevertheless, the NIH conditions its funding on these racial preferences.
In fact, when determining whether to renew funding, the NIH reviews how effective grantors are at recruiting applicants from diverse backgrounds; in other words, how effective the grantor is at racial discrimination.
“For Renewals, the committee will consider the progress made in the last funding period, and the success of the program in attracting individuals from diverse populations, including populations underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral and clinical research on a national basis,” the NIH states.
Do No Harm previously exposed how the NIH mandates applicants for certain grants include a document outlining how their research will advance diversity and inclusivity, such as through including researchers from “historically underrepresented” backgrounds.
These mandates encourage applicants to submit to useless and divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings.
The NIH should ensure that grantors do not use race or ethnicity as a criteria for determining applicants’ eligibility.
To do so is not only immoral but contrary to the agency’s larger mission to pursue the achievement of human knowledge.