The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is being dismantled.
The Trump administration members at the agency and the so-called DOGE team have illegally halted grant payments to current NEH grant recipients (see my previous post on this issue).
NPR reports that “Millions of dollars in previously awarded federal grants intended for arts and cultural groups across the country are being canceled by the Trump administration, according to a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.”
The details of Trump administration officials are murky, since the NEH has not made public statements to clarify the policy changes or defend their legality.
The Trump administration’s actions at the NEH violate the principles of academic freedom. They also ignore well-established academic research procedures and peer-review processes that are the basis of international scientific research and knowledge production.
“The funds had been awarded by the agency through a competitive application process and, according to the official, covered grants from fiscal years 2021-2025. The official said that “no upcoming awards” will be made in fiscal year 2025,” according NPR.
This last statement indicates that the Trump administration is halting the NEH’s current grant competitions in order to block the consideration of new grant proposal process for next year.
The Trump administration has indicated its aim to fire 80 percent of NEH staff and ultimately to dismantle the the NEH entirely.
Painter at the Annual Songwriter Keynote in Alabama. Photo: NPR.
Historical and humanities research will be severely curtailed by these devastating cuts. Humanities and public history programming in every state across the nation will also be undermined.
“The humanities are about helping ‘preserve community history and identity,’ said Stephen Kidd, executive director of the National Humanities Alliance, a national umbrella organization supporting the humanities. Kidd said he’s heard from multiple recipients of Humanities grants who told him they received the letter late last night,” according to NPR.
“‘We don’t know the full scope of the impact of last night’s actions,’ Kidd said. ‘We do know that it is affecting the state humanities councils which are crucial to the vitality of humanities across the country. This is funding that was appropriated by Congress to the state affiliates of the NEH. This is funding that has been promised to the states that is now being withdrawn.'”
Act now to save the National Endowment for the Humanities!
The Trump administration and the so-called DOGE team is now attacking the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and cancelling existing grants unlawfully. They are also illegally halting payments to the grant recipients.
The New York Times reports that “Cultural groups across the country have received letters informing them that their grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities were canceled, stirring fears of great harm to museums, historical sites and community projects of many kinds.”
Archaeological excavations and historical research at Jamestown, Virginia, have received funding from NEH grants. This is just one of the thousands of historical projects that has been awarded an NEH grant.
“Since the agency’s creation in 1965, it has provided more than $6.4 billion to support more than 70,000 projects in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions, according to its website. Supported projects have included more than 9,000 books (including 20 that went on to win Pulitzer Prizes) and more than 500 film and radio programs, including Ken Burns’s landmark 1990 documentary ‘The Civil War,’ which received about a third of its budget from the agency,” according to The New York Times.
Despite this impressive record of achievement in promoting historical and humanities research and programming, the NEH is now being dismantled.
“Starting late Wednesday night, state humanities councils and other grant recipients began receiving emails telling them their funding was ended immediately. Instead, they were told, the agency would be ‘repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.'”
I personally know historians and humanities researchers who have received cancellations of their ongoing grants and suspensions of the payments. These NEH research grants have already been awarded via a legal process that involved rigorous peer review of proposals. I have previously served as a NEH Fellowship reviewer and I am familiar with the peer review process.
The NEH grant recipients have won their grants through intense competitions and have been named grant awardees. So, the ongoing payment of the grants is required by federal law.
The United States Congress must act to stop the unlawful suspensions of authorized grant payments and the illegal diversion of those appropriated funds to sources unknown.
The New York Times has reviewed several of the letters that were sent to NEH grant recipients: “‘Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities,’ the letters said. ‘The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible.'”
“The letters, more than a half dozen of which were viewed by The New York Times, were on agency letterhead and bore the signature of Michael McDonald, a longtime N.E.H. official who became acting director of the agency last month, after the previous leader, a Biden appointee, was pressed to resign.”
Some lawmakers are emphasizing the illegality of the NEH grant cancellations.
“Representative Chellie Pingree, Democrat of Maine and the ranking minority member on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the endowment, said in a statement that the termination of the grants was ‘devastating and outrageous,'” according to The New York Times.
“‘Let’s be clear: These grants were already awarded and use funds already appropriated by Congress on a bipartisan basis,’ she said. ‘The notion that these terminations are justified by a sudden shift in ‘federal priorities’ is nonsense. This is ideological targeting — pure and simple. And it is happening with no input from Congress or the public.'”
Schuessler, Jennifer. “Groups Are Told That Federal Humanities Grants Are Canceled.” The New York Times (3 April 2025).
Next week (April 6-12) is National Library Week, so plan to support one of your local, municipal, or university libraries!
Because the Institute of Museums and Library Services is currently being dismantled by the so-called DOGE team, it is vital to support libraries and librarians across the nation.
In Chicago, where I live, the Newberry Library is hosting a series of events for National Library Week.
The Newberry Library currently has an exhibition on Native Pop! in their gallery space. The Newberry Library also has public programs available to celebrate National Library Week.
See the Newberry Library website for more information on its programming for National Library Week.
The American Library Association website has information on celebrations of National Library Week across the nation.
To take action in support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and libraries, consult the American Library Association advocacy page.
Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE team is now targeting the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for dismantling. DOGE is reportedly seeking to cut 80 percent of the NEH staff and curtail its grant programs.
The New York Times reports that “the N.E.H. was founded in 1965, under the same legislation as the National Endowment for the Arts. Since then, it has awarded more than $6 billion in grants to museums, historical sites, universities, libraries and other organizations, according to its website. Last year, its budget was $211 million.”
“The endowment supports a variety of projects through direct grants. The most recent round, announced in January and totaling $26.6 million, included $175,000 for oral history projects connected to the Lahaina wildfire in Hawaii; $300,000 for digitization efforts at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens; and $150,000 for a study of online language learning at the Yiddish Book Center in Massachusetts,” according to The New York Times.
The NEH also provides financial support for state humanities councils across the nation. Those state councils then provide funding for humanities activities in local municipalities and counties.
The most important agency for History and the Humanities research and educational programming in the United States is being summarily dismantled.
“Leaders at the National Endowment for the Humanities have informed employees that the Trump administration is demanding deep cuts to staff and programs at the agency, in the latest move against federal agencies that support scholarship and culture.
“The move comes about three weeks after the agency’s leader, Shelly Lowe, who was appointed by President Biden, was pressed to resign, several months before her four-year term was over. Since then, a team including staff members from the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk’s government restructuring effort, have made several visits to the N.E.H. office.”
“On Tuesday morning, managers told staff members that DOGE had recommended reductions in staff of as much as 70 to 80 percent (of approximately 180 people), as well as what could amount to a cancellation of all grants made under the Biden administration that have not been fully paid out, according to three staff members. Senior leadership, employees were told, would develop more detailed plans for what the cuts would look like in practice.”
The National Humanities Alliance and other humanities organizations are organizing to defend the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The National Humanities Alliance website has information on how to take action to defend the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Schuessler, Jennifer. “DOGE Demands Deep Cuts at Humanities Endowment.” The New York Times(1 April 2025).
David W. Blight, Professor of History (Yale University), has written an op-ed published in The New York Times, responding to the Trump administration’s attack on the Smithsonian Institution.
He writes that “On Thursday President Trump issued an executive order, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.’ In Mr. Trump’s customary bluster, the order bursts with accusations against unnamed persons who are presumably my fellow historians and museum curators for our ‘concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our nation’s history.'”
Blight observes that “The order’s repeated invocation of the Smithsonian Institution echoes now-familiar right-wing goals outlined in Project 2025 and elsewhere: ending the alleged ‘woke’ agendas on race and gender, creating ‘parents’ rights’ and school choices and promoting history aligned with founders’ ‘values.’
“According to the president, ‘objective facts’ have been replaced with a ‘distorted narrative driven by ideology.’ And then comes that penetrating epithet, the order’s organizing logic: the desire to end the ‘revisionist movement’ carried out by unnamed historians.”
Blight is a specialist in the history of the American Civil War and the author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Harvard University Press, 2001), Frederick Douglass’s Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (LSU Press, 1989), and many other historical books and articles. He currently serves as President of the Organization of American Historians, the leading organization of professional historians who work on the History of the United States. Blight is well positioned to analyze President Trump’s executive order and assess its arguments.
Blight rightly argues that “The order is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historians’ profession, our training and integrity, as well as on the freedom — in the form of curious minds — of anyone who seeks to understand our country by visiting museums or historic sites.”
The Trump administration at its so-called DOGE team may destroy many historical institutions, but their attempts to control historical research, writing, and education simply cannot win, Blight argues.
“In this naïve effort to control how the past is recorded and interpreted, the Trump administration has stepped into a minefield. While it remains unclear how much will change as a result of the executive order, it is already evident that the administration has started a war it cannot win in the long run.”
Ultimately, no single person or organization can control historical representations of the past.
Blight, David W. “Trump Cannot Win His War on History.” The New York Times (31 March 2025).
The Trump administration and its so-called DOGE team is now dismantling the entire the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of its ongoing attack on research and higher education in the United States.
NPR reports that “The Institute of Museum and Library Services has placed its entire staff on administrative leave.”
The IMLS is the federal agency that provides support for library and museum research and programming across the United States. Local, state, and university libraries rely on IMLS support for their initiatives and programs.
NPR indicates that “The IMLS is a relatively small federal agency, with around 70 employees, that awards grant funding to museums and libraries across the country.”
“Earlier this month, President Trump named Keith E. Sonderling — deputy secretary of labor — the new acting director of IMLS. This followed Trump’s previous executive order, shrinking seven federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services,” according to NPR.
“According to a statement from AFGE Local 3403, which represents IMLS workers, the agency’s staff were notified by email about the administrative leave via after a ‘brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership.’ Employees had to turn in government property, and email accounts were disabled.”
“The IMLS is an independent federal agency that provides grants to libraries and museums across the country. According to the American Library Association, the IMLS provides ‘a majority of federal library funds.’ The IMLS says it has awarded $266 million in grant funding and research to cultural institutions last year. This money goes to help staff, maintenance and create new programs.”
A fellow researcher at Northern Illinois University, where I teach, has been developing a research grant proposal this academic year and recently submitted it to the IMLS. Now, it seems that there will be no one there to evaluate the proposal.
The IMLS mission statement reads “The mission of IMLS is to advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. The agency carries out its charge as it adapts to meet the changing needs of our nation’s museums and libraries and their communities. IMLS’s mission is essential to helping these institutions navigate change and continue to improve their services.”
President Trump, Elon Musk, and his so-called DOGE team have now completely undermined that mission and threatened library and museum services that serve U.S. citizens all across the nation.
Limbong, Andrew. “Entire Staff at Federal Agency that Funds Libraries and Museums Put on Leave.” NPR (31 March 2025).
A group of over 570 university and college presidents have condemned the Trump administration’s violations of students’ constitutional rights.
The higher education leaders who are members of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration are acting to protect international students, postdocs, and faculty members. I am proud to say that Lisa C. Freeman, President of Northern Illinois University, has signed on to this organization’s important statement.
President Trump and his administration have repeatedly threatened international students and violated their constitutional rights. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has improperly revoked valid international student visas without due process, sometimes clearly in retaliation for students’ participation in peaceful protests. This violates First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, which pertain equally to all persons legally in in the United States, not just U.S. citizens.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have illegally detained international students, postdocs, and faculty members without due process. They have also illegally detained some United States citizens who they mistakenly assumed to be non-citizens. Customs agents have improperly and illegally denied entry to international researchers traveling to the United States. The Trump administration has illegally deported international students and faculty members, and it seeks to deport more international students as part of its ongoing campaign against higher education and research.
Northern Illinois University President Lisa C. Freeman has issued the following statement:
Across the nation, noncitizen students and scholars are facing great uncertainty and anxiety because of recent federal actions. Reports of more than 300 student and scholar visas being revoked, and individuals being detained or deported for expressing viewpoints deemed offensive by the federal government, are deeply concerning. As a member of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, NIU joins more than 570 universities and colleges in calling on the administration to respect an individual’s constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
International and undocumented students and scholars are valued, contributing members of our NIU community. The university is actively supporting them in their teaching, learning, status compliance and overall well-being. Our community should be mindful that an individual’s immigration status is protected information (in accordance with legel and ethical standards) to uphold privacy, ensure personal safety and prevent discrimination.
Our country is experiencing rapid change, uncertainty and heightened division. While some might find it validating, others might feel infuriated. As Huskies, we have the opportunity to demonstrate respect and care, recognizing that we are all here in pursuit of knowledge and growth. Remember, success includes asking for help. Please do not hesitate to utilize the university’s resources, such as the Center for Student Assistance, Counseling and Consultation Services, Employee Well-being or the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost to support your success and help you finish the semester strong.
Together Forward,
Lisa C. Freeman President
The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration‘s statement reads:
In light of reports of over 300 international student visas that have been revoked and the recent detentions of noncitizen students and other campus members in the U.S., the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration issued the following statement:
The Presidents’ Alliance is highly alarmed by recent immigration enforcement actions targeting noncitizen students, faculty and staff, condemns the detention of international students, and urgently calls on the Administration to respect their constitutional rights, including the First Amendment’s protection of speech and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process.
Recent immigration enforcement operations —including apprehending and detaining international students and revoking student visas— appear to lack clear cause or be based on political speech or association and raise serious concerns about fairness, due process, freedom from arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement, and other constitutional protections. The government’s actions and rhetoric create an atmosphere of fear, threaten academic freedom, chill free expression, and jeopardize the well-being of noncitizen members of our campus communities.
U.S. colleges and universities are unmatched centers of learning, discovery, and training. We draw students, scholars, and researchers from across the nation and around the world to learn together, advance knowledge, foster innovation, and contribute to economic growth and global security. Our higher education institutions cultivate domestic and global talent essential to U.S. scientific and technological advancement and all sectors of society. International and immigrant students, faculty, and staff on our campuses and in our communities are integral to America’s leadership in STEM, healthcare, business, teaching, innovation, the arts, and the workforce of tomorrow.
We strongly support the right of both citizens and noncitizens, including international students, to engage in peaceful expression. Academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and freedom of individual expression are foundational values central to the mission of U.S. higher education and our country’s core democratic principles. These commitments are fully consistent with our responsibilities under state and federal laws, including those related to national security. Upholding these principles strengthens—not undermines—our ability to foster the secure, inclusive, and vibrant academic communities that have made our nation a global leader.
We stand with colleges and universities taking proactive steps to support their communities—citizen and noncitizen alike—and to prepare for the challenges posed by these deeply disturbing immigration enforcement actions. The Presidents’ Alliance is prepared to assist institutions with guidance and resources.
For more information, see the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration website.
Historians are acting to defend the Smithsonian Institution and its mission of providing historical research and education to United States citizens through research, publications, and museum exhibitions.
The American Historical Association (AHA), the flagship academic association of professional historians in the United States, has already taken actions to defend the Smithsonian Institution.
The AHA reports that “The American Historical Association has released a statement in support of the Smithsonian Institution, the target of the recent executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” This order ‘egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution’ and ‘completely misconstrues the nature of historical work.'”
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has been particularly targeted by the Trump administration. However, the executive order clearly targets other Smithsonian museums that have historical exhibits, including the American History Museum, American Indian Museum, Asian Art Museum, National Museum of the American Latino (in development), and the American Women’s History Museum (in development).
The AHA statement argues that “The Executive Order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” issued on March 27 by the White House, egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian is among the premier research institutions in the world, widely known for the integrity of its scholarship, which is careful and based on historical and scientific evidence. The Institution ardently pursues the purpose for which it was established more than 175 years ago: “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The accusation in the White House fact sheet accompanying the executive order claims that Smithsonian museums are displaying “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology.” This is simply untrue; it misrepresents the work of those museums and the public’s engagement with their collections and exhibits. It also completely misconstrues the nature of historical work.”
The AHA website indicates that “AHA executive director Jim Grossman was quoted in the New York Times and appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition on the work of the Smithsonian and its importance to the public.”
French politician Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) political party, has been found guilty of embezzling millions of euros in European Parliament funds.
She was found guilty of using the European Union funds illegally to pay her political party members and political supporters affiliated with her Rassemblement National party and its predecessor, the Front National (National Front)—sometimes by giving them jobs involving no work.
Le Monde reports that “Marine Le Pen a peut-être perdu sa dernière chance d’accéder à l’Elysée. Reconnue coupable de détournement de fonds publics par le tribunal correctionnel de Paris, lundi 31 mars, dans l’affaire des assistants parlementaires du Front national (FN), la députée du Pas-de-Calais a été condamnée à une peine de quatre ans d’emprisonnement dont deux ans ferme, aménageable avec un bracelet électronique, 100 000 euros d’amende, et cinq ans d’inéligibilité. Conformément aux réquisitions du parquet, énoncées le 13 novembre 2024, cette dernière peine est assortie d’une exécution provisoire, ce que l’élue craignait avant toute chose.”
The New York Times provides a report in English: “Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday and immediately barred from running for public office for five years, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election.”
“The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Ms. Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who has already mounted three failed bids. Looking grim and murmuring ‘incredible,’ she walked briskly out of the courtroom before the judges had completed reading her sentence.”
The sentence bars Marine Le Pen from running for political office in France for the next five years, effective immediately.
“The court also sentenced Ms. Le Pen, 56, to four years in prison, with two of those years suspended, and a fine of 100,000 euros, or about $108,000. She has long denied any wrongdoing in the case, which involved accusations that her party, the National Rally, illegally used several million euros in European Parliament funds for expenses between 2004 and 2016,” according to The New York Times.
“She is widely expected to appeal the verdict, which would put most of her sentence on hold, but not the ban on running for public office. The court ruled that her electoral ineligibility is effective immediately. As a result, only a successful appeal before the 2027 deadline to enter the race would allow her to run.”
Marine Le Pen will surely appeal the decision, but it seems unlikely that any appeal would proceed quickly enough to be adjudicated prior to the deadline to file a candidacy for the upcoming French Presidential Election in 2027.
The Guardian reports on the impact of the sentence: “The decision was a political earthquake for Le Pen, the leader of the far-right anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, who had hoped to mount a fourth campaign to become president. Le Pen, 56, said before the verdict that that any immediate ban on running for election would be like a ‘political death sentence’ and that judges had ‘the power of life or death over our movement.’ She is likely to immediately appeal against the verdict.”
Following the verdict Jordan Bardella emerges as the most likely National Rally presidential candidate, but at 29 years old, many political observers consider him to young and unexperienced to run.
Leseur, Corentin. “La candidature de Marine Le Pen à la présidentielle en 2027 compromise après sa condamnation à une peine d’inéligibilité avec exécution provisoire.” Le Monde (31 March 2025).
Breeden, Aurelien and Roger Cohen. “Le Pen Barred From French Presidential Run After Embezzlement Ruling.” The New York Times (31 March 2025).
Chrisafis, Angelique. “Marine Le Pen Barred from Running for French Presidency in 2027.” The Guardian (31 March 2025).
The French public awaits the verdict in Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement trial, which is expected to conclude tomorrow (Monday 31 March).
Le Pen is the leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) political party, which has has its roots in the previous Front National (National Front) party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine’s father.
“Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, has tried and failed three times to become president. Now, even as her popularity rises, she may be barred from taking part in an election to lead France if she is found guilty of embezzlement on Monday,” according to The New York Times.
“Such a verdict, far from certain, has been equated by Ms. Le Pen with a ‘political death’ sentence and a ‘very violent attack on the will of the people.’ It would ignite a major political storm at a time when the French Fifth Republic has appeared increasingly dysfunctional.”
“On the one hand stands the principle, as Nicolas Barret, one of the prosecutors, put it in closing arguments last year, that ‘We are not here in a political arena but a legal one, and the law applies to all.’
“On the other hand lies the fear, expressed by some leading politicians, that a ban would undermine French democracy by feeding a suspicion that it is skewed against the growing forces of the hard right.”
The charges against Marine Le Pen are quite serious. “Prosecutors have accused Ms. Le Pen and other members of the National Rally of embezzling some $4.8 million in European Union funds, essentially through no-show jobs at the European Parliament for lawmaker ‘assistants,’ who were rarely there and worked as party staff.”
Scholars of French history and culture, including members of the Society for French Historical Studies and the Western Society for French History, are following the political developments closely.
Cohen, Roger. “Possible Electoral Ban on Marine Le Pen Has France on Edge.” The New York Times (30 March 2025).
Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives 