The National Institutes of Health falls under the Department of Health and Human Services led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [Andrew Harnik/Getty Images]
The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) will prohibit funding to organisations that boycott Israel or promote DEI programmes in the latest move by the Trump administration to clamp down on pro-Palestinian activism.
In a notice published on 21 April, the NIH said that it would “terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds” if recipients of funding “operate any programs that advance or promote” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and “discriminatory prohibited boycott”.
The notice defines a discriminatory prohibited boycott as “refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business”.
The notice will take effect on 21 April.
The Trump administration has taken several measures to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, arresting foreign students without charge and threatening US universities with a withdrawal of funding.
On Tuesday, over 100 educational institutions issued a letter condemning Trump’s “political interference” in the education system, which has seen the administration target several key institutions.
The latest target has been Harvard University, which had $2.2 billion in funds frozen after the institution rejected a host of demands such as controlling admission policies and hiring practices.
Columbia University, the site of major pro-Palestine protests, has also been targeted. The institution has implemented new student conduct rules after Trump threatened to withhold $400 million of federal funding.
The crackdown has also led to the termination of grants to study health equity, funding for people from marginalised backgrounds, and training programmes to marginalised scientists, according to the health news publication STAT.
Private institutions have also cut programmes relating to DEI, with the Howard Hughes Institute having cancelled the Inclusive Excellence programme that sought to improve the retention of diverse student bodies in science and engineering programmes.
