The federal government has proposed MAJOR changes to the rules to allocation of all federal grants. These represent an existential threat to the research and scholarship that is done at SBU, throughout SUNY and at every academic institution in the USA. These changes are not finalized. There is a period for public comments to be submitted to the federal government. We ask that all research active UUP members PLEASE take the time to submit comments. It is important that your comments address specific sections headings in the proposed rule change document. Because this document is extremely lengthy, we have summarized the most critical changes below. Please say who you are, what your expertise is and whether you hold federal grants.
Please submit comments specifically on these sections:
1.Section 200.205 — Political appointee review of grants
This rule change would allow senior political appointees to overrule peer review, without any transparency or reason given.
2.Section 200.340 — Grant termination
This rule change would permit political appointees to terminate any open grant without giving reasons.
3.Section 200.432 — Conference attendance pre-approval
This rule change would government prior approval to attend any scientific conference.
4.Section 200.454 — Journal subscriptions-no longer allowable.
5.Section 200.461 — Publication costs-no longer allowable.
6.Section 200.300 — All DEI and gender based programs or research would be prohibited
7.Section 200.218 — Disparate-impact research banned
Research into health disparities or any disparity in impact of govt policy on tax payers would be prohibited
8.Section 200.220 — Foreign collaboration-Prohibited.
9.Section 200.202 — Programs must align with administration priorities-Political interference with research.
10.Section 200.204 — Grant competitions can be exempted from public notice-lack of transparency
11. Section 200.206—Federal Agency Review of Risk Posed by Applicants
This section would allow the government to preclude specific applicants from receiving awards based on political appointees’ evaluation of that applicant’s adherence to some ill-defined set of past behaviors, based on ‘publicly available information’.
Please submit public comment before the period closes in 40 days.