Brown, 11 other universities, the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities filed a lawsuit Monday to block indirect funding cuts from the U.S. Department of Defense.
On May 14, the DOD announced that it would be placing a 15% limit on indirect research costs, which cover expenses tied to research but not directly associated with a specific project. The 15% limit applies to both new and existing funding awards, according to the lawsuit, which also states that Brown’s predetermined indirect cost rate is 59.5% for on-campus research through fiscal year 2027.
The plaintiffs claimed in the filing that the DOD’s indirect funding cuts will “stop critical research in its tracks” and ultimately “erode our nation’s enviable status as a global leader in scientific research and innovation.”
The University received $17.9 million in federal funding from the DOD in fiscal year 2024, according to court filings. If the cap on indirect costs stands, Brown faces an estimated loss of $3 million for fiscal year 2025.
In a Monday declaration filed alongside the suit, Brown’s Vice President for Research Greg Hirth ScM’87 PhD’91 stated that the effects of indirect funding cuts would be “devastating,” adding that “research initiatives, operating budgets, personnel, core infrastructure and communities” would all be impacted. According to the declaration, initiatives funded by the DOD include efforts to “identify computer security weakness” that pose a threat to the U.S. government and the development of Artificial Intelligence models.
As of May 23, Brown currently has 37 pending proposals with the DOD that add up to over $22 million of funding, Hirth added.
He described the 15% limit as “unfairly restrictive” to universities, given that the “newly announced indirect cost reimbursement policy applies only to university awardees.”
“The reduced funding would have destructive impacts on a wide range of innovative research projects at Brown” and bring some graduate students’ work to a halt, a June 16 University press release reads. The reduction would also “threaten Brown’s ability to train and retain the next generation” of researchers, potentially rendering the University less competitive in security-related fields, the release states.
The filing parallels the University’s previous lawsuits against the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Federation over similar indirect funding cuts. District courts ruled against the funding cuts in the NIH and DOE cases, while the lawsuit filed against the NSF has been voluntarily stayed, the DOD filing reads.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
Elise Haulund is a science & research editor and sophomore from Redondo Beach, CA. Concentrating in English and biology, she has a passion for exploring the intersection between STEM and the humanities. Outside of writing, researching and editing, she enjoys ballet-dancing, cafe-hopping and bullet-journaling.
Claire Song is a university news and science & research editor for The Herald. She is a sophomore from California studying Applied Math-Biology. She likes to drink boba in her free time.
