Safe spaces are still a thing? Who knew?
The college Fix reports:
Govt gave $3.3 million science grant to Northwestern for ‘safe space ambassadors’: reportA report on government waste by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul recently brought to light a $3.3 million grant to Northwestern University for the purpose of funding “scientific neighborhoods,” “safe space ambassadors,” and “inclusive excellence coaching.”The grant was mentioned in the Kentucky Republican’s most recent annual “Festivus Report,” which shines light on wasteful government spending. The report says that despite the university’s $14 billion endowment, it took $3.3 million in taxpayer dollars to fund administrators’ “woke cult” project.The project aimed “to disrupt systemic barriers that impede the full participation of underrepresented groups by funding the cluster hiring of new faculty in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular, and brain and behavioral sciences,” according to a university news release in 2022, the year the grant was awarded.“The funding is designed to address the dearth of under-represented minorities in the life sciences,” the news release stated.However, Christopher Neefus, spokesperson for Open the Books, told The College Fix that the tax dollars spent on the project detracted from real scientific inquiry. Open the Books is a fiscal watchdog organization based in Illinois where Northwestern also is located.“The extravagant spending highlighted by Senator Paul comes at the expense of more funding for essential, truth-seeking science,” Neefus said in a recent email. “Rigorous pursuits are too often being sidelined in favor of ideologically charged, discriminatory projects that have nothing to do with research and development.“Those fighting changes to the status quo have lamented ‘attacks on science,’ but safe spaces and ‘inclusive excellence’ hardly qualify,” he told The Fix.The grant, which originally was a five-year funding plan, pledged upwards of $10.8 million to Northwestern for its Recruitment to Transform Under-Representation and achieve Equity (NURTURE) program.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY