The College will once again accept federal research grant funds from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health after recertifying its compliance with federal antidiscrimination laws, Dean of the Faculty Lara Shore-Sheppard announced in an email to department chairs on Monday.
In June, the College paused its acceptance of new federal grants after the federal government issued regulations prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming at institutions receiving funding. The College began accepting funds again on Monday.
The College decided to recertify after “a careful review of information clarifying our legal responsibilities, including relevant court decisions, U.S. Department of Justice guidance, and investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Education,” Shore-Sheppard wrote in her email to department chairs. She noted that no College program had been eliminated or significantly changed due to the review and grant acceptance pause.
As part of the process to recertify, the Faculty voted on Oct. 7 to remove language from the faculty handbook that would have conflicted with the new federal guidelines targeting DEI. The College’s review process also included “one-on-one discussions with faculty and staff to confirm that they understood their legal obligations and felt equipped to manage Williams programs and activities in compliance with antidiscrimination laws,” Shore-Sheppard wrote.
At the September faculty meeting, the faculty voted to delay the proposed motions — which stripped language on affirmative action from the handbook — to the handbook’s substantive review process, postponing the process by a month. The revised motions, similar in content to those initially proposed, passed a month later.
The changes to federal guidelines about DEI are part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to exert influence on higher education. Last month, the Trump administration asked nine institutions — not including Williams — to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” in exchange for privileged access to federal funding. The compact included provisions aligned with conservative views on education. In an email to the College community, President of the College Maud S. Mandel wrote that she believes the compact represents a threat to academic freedom in the United States. “By asking schools to commit to an ideological program, the Compact threatens to undermine academic independence, which has been essential to the flourishing of ideas and innovation in the United States,” she wrote.
