The Trump administration has canceled several diversity, equity, and inclusion-related grants to university libraries as part of a broader effort through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to reduce government waste and inefficiency.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary federal agency supporting libraries and museums, recently announced it would no longer fund DEI initiatives, aligning with President Trump’s executive orders to eliminate the dogma across the federal government.
Among the grants that have been scrapped, DOGE reported on X, are: $265,000 for Queens College in New York to research “why BIPOC teens” read Japanese comic books; $140,000 for the University of South Carolina to create “safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals” in libraries; and $400,000 for the University of Tennessee to study “LGBTQ+ library users’ metadata.”
The Queens College research sought to investigate why black, indigenous, and other teens of color are drawn to Japanese comic books. According to the project website, “BIPOC teens have shown a particular affinity for manga. This observation (is what) prompted us to delve deeper into understanding the underlying reasons and motivations behind this trend.”
Joe Sanchez, associate professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College, defended the research topic. He said findings from a 2021 pilot study informed the development of the grant.
“The IMLS-funded [pilot] project, which ran for a year, explored how youth engage with graphic novels, particularly manga, and how this format supports reading development and critical thinking,” he told The College Fix via email.
“With national reading scores in decline, this research offered valuable insights into youth education and reading motivation at a time when many educators are seeking new strategies to improve literacy outcomes for all students,” he said.
The University of Tennessee’s $400,000 proposed study was to explore metadata behaviors of LGBTQ+ library patrons, focusing on how they interact with digital catalogs and search platforms to improve “user-centered design and inclusivity” in digital library services. The University of South Carolina’s $140,000 grant would have established LGBTQ+ safe spaces in library environments.
Representatives from the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville did not respond to a request from The College Fix seeking comment.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services was one of several federal agencies targeted under President Trump’s “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” executive order, issued March 14. It required several federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, to reduce any staffing and programming not required by law.
The most significant cut announced was $6.7 million rescinded from the California State Library system, which runs the state’s libraries. It had been awarded the funds to “enhance equitable library programs” across the state, according to DOGE.
Another $105,000 was withdrawn from the California Association of Museums, which had planned to address “systemic racism” in museum practices and staffing, DOGE stated on X.
The California State Library system pushed back on the cuts by touting on social media a program that helped blind people that was axed.
But in a phone interview with The College Fix, California state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, a Republican, praised the decision, calling the DEI efforts a “toxic and divisive” use of public resources.
“DEI programs are the biggest example of wasteful spending,” DeMaio said. “They do nothing but divide and contaminate the minds of our youth. They are toxic, divisive, demonic, and divide us on skin color and hysteria. People are being victimized.”
The overall DOGE initiative claims to have saved taxpayers more than $140 billion, just south of $900 per taxpayer.
DeMaio said the cuts should serve as a roadmap for California’s approach to government-funded DEI initiatives.
“Yes, there’s a lot of stuff going on in D.C. right now that I’m excited about–that we should bring to California,” he said.
“California is where these bad policy ideas come from,” he told The Fix. “We’ve been a petri dish for the left and their perverted and dysfunctional policies. The policies from the last administration, which signed these DEI grants, were exported to the federal government from California and started having national impacts. We still have more programs in California that we’ve got to root out.”
MORE: 3 in 4 college-age voters support Trump’s DOGE cuts: poll
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Stacks of books shown within a library / Shutterstock
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