A U.S. district court judge sided with Brown and 12 other universities in a lawsuit filed in May against the National Science Foundation. The lawsuit challenged cuts to federally financed indirect funding. In the Friday ruling, the federal judge ordered the NSF to retract the funding cap, describing it as “invalid, arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.”
The ruling, written by Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, said the NSF failed to implement the cut “in accordance with the procedures that the regulation prescribes.”
Following the ruling, the NSF added an update to its website that said it would comply with the court’s decision and will not implement the policy at this time.
The original suit was filed alongside the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. The filing paralleled similar suits filed by Brown and other universities against the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense. Over the last five months, each of these government agencies have attempted to place caps on indirect research funding, and each has faced subsequent legal action from the University. Brown’s complaints against the NIH and the DOE have prevailed in court.
According to the ruling, Brown and many other universities have previously negotiated their indirect cost rates to federally funded research, with Brown’s at 59.5% through the 2027 fiscal year. In a declaration submitted alongside the original suit, Vice President for Research Greg Hirth ScM’87 PhD’91 wrote that during the fiscal year 2024, the NSF supported over 250 projects at Brown — including research into X-ray imaging, quantum science and earthquakes — with grants totaling $34 million.
Since April, at least five Brown research projects have had NSF grants terminated, which follows updates to NSF guidelines requiring awards not to include themes of environmental justice, misinformation or diversity, equity and inclusion.
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.
