One grant provides funding for “non-traditional travel costs for LGBTQ+ learners.”
According to documents reviewed by The College Fix, The University of Connecticut appears to be using taxpayer funds to honor inside diversity, equity, and inclusion offers, including one that provides vacation money especially for “LGBTQ+ individuals.
A marine science project titled” Making Marine Sciences a More Diverse and Welcoming Workplace” was one of the” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives” grants awarded by UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences this year. Through an open records request, The Fix obtained the grant proposals and awards documents.
The grant comes from an internal funding program run by the college that provides funding for “projects that align with the CLAS Strategic Plan’s goals, including research, scholarship, teaching, diversity efforts, and outreach.” The college gives grants on a yearly basis.
The marine science project, submitted by Professor David Lund, allocates$ 6, 000 to” support DEI travel,” in particular by creating a fund to cover “non-traditional travel expenses for LGBTQ+ students” who attend conferences or complete fieldwork as part of their graduate studies. Additionally, the grant proposal mentions how the travel funds will be used for students with disabilities.
The grant will also be used to host a” code of conduct” workshop to “prevent bias incidents” and recruit graduate students through the American Geophysical Union Bridges Program, which aims to “increase the proportion of under-represented minority graduate students in geosciences.”
When questioned about civil rights violations and funding for LGBTQ+ students, University spokesperson Stephanie Reitz pointed to the grant proposal.
According to the report, LGBTQ+ and disabled students “are frequently faced with additional logistics and expenses associated with accommodations, travel documentation, and bathroom access,” while adding that” safety is an ongoing” concern in some parts of the world.
It notes that LGBTQ+ students “may be uncomfortable or feel uneasy sharing a room, which is a common practice used by many graduate students to reduce costs.”
Additionally, the grant proposal includes references to studies that have been published in journals like AGU Advances and Nature that demonstrate the need for better “gender identity” accommodations in scientific research settings.
Reitz told The Fix that, as you’ll see, the proposal makes reference to published research that is independent of UConn and supports its claims in an email on Monday. UConn has always worked to ensure that we are in compliance with Title VI, as with all state and federal laws, and that is still the case today.
Additionally, The College Fix twice in the past week sent a message to Professor Lund in the Marine Sciences Department asking what expenses fall under the category of “non-traditional” and whether heterosexual students would be eligible for the same travel funds. He did not reply.
However, Drexel University professor Stanley Ridgley, author of” Brutal Minds,” a book about the leftist ideological capture of higher education, recently criticized the program in an email to The Fix.
” I detest slush funds like this UConn racket,” Ridgley said. Bryn Mawr College is one of the worst institutions that offers funding for student activism, according to one of these institutions.
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Ridgley claimed that many academics slam political activism with euphemisms. They’ll use the term “leadership” to describe” student activism.” One of the most prevalent euphemisms is this. Look very closely at a non-business” Leadership” course wherever you can find one because it’s most likely to generate activism on campus and elsewhere.
One of the many grants that the university has approved as part of its internal DEI initiative is one for the marine sciences.
Additionally, it provided an$ 8, 000 grant to the project” Advancing Mathematics Teaching Through Equity-Minded Inquiry and Transformative Teaching.”
Many people have long believed that math is a neutral subject matter, assuming that teaching its content does not contribute to perpetuating racism or advancing educational inequity. However, the grant proposal states that data from across the country suggests a more complex and troubling reality.
Another$ 8,000 grant, which was submitted by faculty members Mars Plater, Ingrid Semaan, and Simon Shachter, addresses the need to support students who identify as queer or transgender because” their identities have become political talking points.” The funds will be used to finance projects at UConn-Stamford’s” Queer Collaborative.”
Another award provides gift cards to students to encourage participation in a study on diversity and the environment in classrooms. The university awarded 76,125 dollars to internal DEI projects for the 2024–2025 cycle overall.
The Trump administration is cutting back on federal grants that were previously funded by the government.
A program called” Building Racial Equity in Marine Science” was recently funded by the Department of Government Efficiency on X through the National Science Foundation.
MORE: To combat climate change stress, Western Washington U. offers “eco-anxiety workshops”
Women work in a science lab, and they IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT. Shutterstock/wavebreakmedia
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