National Science Foundation Bankrolls Discriminatory Program for ‘Underrepresented’ Scholars

The National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency responsible for funding a large chunk of scientific research, states that its mission is “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; and to secure the national defense.”

Yet one of its most prolific grantmaking programs, the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), seems more concerned with the racial makeup of the individuals achieving these goals than the goals themselves. 

LSAMP is a grantmaking program that invests in colleges and universities to further education in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.

The description of LSAMP on the NSF website makes clear that the goal of the program is explicitly discriminatory.

“LSAMP is an alliance-based program, whereby a group of institutions of higher education (IHEs) work together to diversify the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to persons from LSAMP populations,” the description reads.

 “LSAMP populations are defined as persons from groups underrepresented in the STEM enterprise:  Blacks and African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders,” the description continues.

According to the NSF website, LSAMP has funded over 140 projects at universities across the country.

However, many of these awards are to institutions located in states that have passed laws restricting DEI and racially discriminatory practices.

For instance, the Bridges Across Texas – Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (BAT-LSAMP) is a partnership of Texas Tech University, The University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas College – El Centro Campus, South Plains College, and Texas Southmost College.

The program description states that the project “aims to increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to historically underrepresented groups, including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.”

It’s worth noting that on January 1, 2024, the Texas law preventing public universities from “promoting differential treatment of or providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, color, or ethnicity” went into effect. 

The NSF has funded $25 million in active awards through LSAMP in Texas alone, along with nearly $20 million in each of Georgia and Florida, according to the NSF’s website.

There is no legitimate scientific reason for the NSF to target specific racial groups in its grantmaking strategy.

Prioritizing race over talent and competence invariably leads to worse scientific outcomes and is clearly unethical. To continue doing so is not only immoral but contrary to the NSF’s larger mission to pursue the achievement of human knowledge.