Ted Cruz Labels Solar Eclipse Research As “Woke DEI”

NPR reports:

“For just a few minutes, it feels like the whole world stands still and yet everything changes,” says Corinne Brevik, a physicist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. But only a sliver of the country gets this first-hand view. For the 2024 eclipse, Brevik used money from a National Science Foundation grant to help middle schoolers host a live, interactive broadcast that brought together kids within the path of totality with those around the country outside the path.

On Tuesday, Brevick was surprised to learn that her grant was one of over 3,400 NSF grants labeled by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as “Woke DEI” research that may be advancing “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.” A database released by Cruz this week formed the basis of an October report claiming over $2 billion of NSF’s $9 billion budget went to “left-wing ideological crusades masked as ‘academic research.'” Brevik was one of many scientists expressing dismay at how their basic research was being labeled.

Read the full article.

Ted Cruz’s “woke” science list contains a lot of basic, fundamental research that got flagged for simply addressing broader impacts (as Congress requires).

Still, it’s making scientists uneasy.

My latest:https://t.co/jHhFnLWLAg

— Jonathan Lambert (@evolambert) February 13, 2025