The National Science Foundation funds a huge amount of science in the US, and this appeared on their website 7 hours ago (at https://new.nsf.gov/executive-orders )
This is telling people to stop work on existing grants if the work might touch on equality or diversity considerations (keep reading down).
I’m pretty sure that every grant application had to have a section on how those considerations were being addressed. This is mindblowingly disruptive and destructive.
@helenczerski From my experience and that of my peers, even just the uncertainty has been incredibly disruptive. Lots of time trying to figure out what this means and how we will be impacted when we would otherwise be doing the science...
@helenczerski yes, diversity and broadening participation has been a required component for some time and is part of the review process. Totally unclear if we have to stop just those activities, like recruitment strategies, or the whole project because of that one part that was a requirement.
@helenczerski We are watching the elected leaders of the US playing jenga with their country. And their supporters stand on the blocks cheering them on.
But let's not imagine that it could not happen here, given the power that we've handed to social media.
The Russian and Chinese bots, trolls, and dark money that went into getting Trump elected will pay huge dividends.
They have zero situational awareness, so effective strategy and tactics will be an undiscovered country for the next four year*.
* assuming the 2028 election happens.
@helenczerski Speaking cynically, I’m sure they’re aware it’s a widespread and time-consuming block.
