Trump’s team looking at withholding massive research grants from universities that are too ‘woke’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President-elect Donald Trump’s team is considering the possibility of withholding massive research grants from “woke” schools they claim lack academic freedom. Trump’s nominee to head the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist at Stanford, reportedly wants to target so called “cancel culture” at a number of top progressive universities, according to The Wall Street Journal. Those with knowledge of Bhattacharya’s thinking told the newspaper that he’s considering linking the doling out of billions in federal research grants to a measure of “academic freedom” on campuses and punishing those that apparently don’t adequately embrace perspectives championed by conservatives. Lizbet Boroughs, associate vice president of the Association of American Universities, told The Journal: “It’s not clear why we’d roadblock the best chances of finding a cure for cystic fibrosis or cancer or Alzheimer’s by adding potentially political, nonresearch factors into medical-research grant decisions.” Former director of the National Cancer Institute Ned Sharpless told the paper that Bhattacharya might find it hard to implement his changes.