‘A major morale booster’: NEH grant terminations ruled unconstitutional, humanities faculty express hope

A federal judge ruled last month that the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) termination of more than 1,400 grants in April 2025 had violated the Constitution on several counts. Princeton researchers await the effects of the verdict, which ordered that the NEH must rescind its termination notices.

The ruling addressed actions taken by separative collective organizations — the American Historical Association, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Modern Language Association of America were the plaintiffs for one action; the second action was brought by writers’ organization Authors Guild and a coalition of eight individual NEH grantees.

Humanities researchers at Princeton have taken issue with the suspended grants, expressing particular concern with Trump’s plans to shut down the NEH altogether.

Professor Molly Greene GS ’93, who holds a joint appointment in history and Hellenic studies, told The Daily Princetonian that she “didn’t know what to expect” while the lawsuit was ongoing.

“We are in uncharted territory here,” she said, adding that in the humanities, “there has never been a mass cancellation of grants like what happened last spring.”

The ruling by Judge Colleen McMahon ruling focused on the legality of the NEH’s grant terminations. The terminations were, according to McMahon, “in violation of the First Amendment, in violation of the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, and without statutory authority.” McMahon was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

The First Amendment specifically forbids discrimination on the basis of viewpoints, while the NEH selected against research projects that were associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to the ruling. “In sum, the perceived relationship of a grant to DEI or to the Biden Administration was the very raison d’être for the challenged terminations,” McMahon wrote in the ruling.

Reflecting on McMahon’s ruling, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Acting Chair of the Humanities Council Christina Lee GS ’99 told the ‘Prince,’ “This makes me hopeful … that current and future grants are better protected from the swings of the political climate.”

Though hopeful, Lee admitted that “the damage has already been done when it comes to previously cancelled grants.” 

Greene added that the funding “wasn’t there when scholars on the tenure track needed it the most … as they are on a ticking clock when it comes to tenure decisions, and tenure decisions are based heavily, although not exclusively, on research.”

It is unclear whether the terminated grants will be restored. “Nothing in this injunction or in the Court’s prior preliminary relief requires the immediate payment of grant funds,” McMahon had clarified in the ruling. Trump’s proposal to shutter the agency further imperils researchers’ prospects of securing federal funding.

“I will not be holding my breath for the government to actually pay this out,” Professor Wendy Laura Belcher, who is jointly appointed in comparative literature and African American studies,  wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “Should that highly unlikely event happen, then I will be delighted to use the returned funding to support the translators for the project.”

Belcher had received two major NEH grants in August 2021 totaling over $600,000 to translate and digitize African stories about the Virgin Mary. As the funds were dispersed in multiple installments, Belcher ultimately lost approximately $30,000 between the two grants, obliging her to pause the project towards the end.

“We have translated about 812 of 1000 stories, and I wouldn’t mind closing that gap and having a full translation of all the stories,” she said.

As in Belcher’s case, the grant cuts mostly amounted to a fraction of the entire award for the projects at Princeton, meaning that the “gap” to be closed by restored funding would be relatively small. However, Greene worried that the NEH’s altered priorities would harm other institutions more significantly.

“In the past, NEH funding has helped to even out the resource differences between wealthy universities like Princeton and the majority who have many fewer resources,” Greene said. “I’m afraid that the gap now will only grow.”

Haeon Lee is the associate News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading research coverage. She is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and often covers campus research and academic departments. She can be reached at hl1389[at]princeton.edu.

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