Rep. Ben Cline seeks to crack down on federal grants being used by colleges for DEI purposes

EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) is seeking to crack down on federal grant money universities are using to hire staff for diversity and equity purposes, accusing Democrats of using government funds to advance their political agenda on college campuses across the country.

The House Republican introduced the Federal Grant Accountability Act on Tuesday, which would implement increased accountability measures for federal agencies providing research grants to universities. The bill, which was first obtained by the Washington Examiner, would specifically rein in schools’ abilities to use those funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

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“Universities are raking in tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers for scientific research,” Cline said. “While some are using their grant money appropriately, others are using it as a slush fund to promote woke, radical DEI activities. Congress must protect Americans’ taxpayer dollars and ensure that the money received is being spent on legitimate, research-oriented purposes, not to push the Left’s political agenda on college campuses.”

The Federal Grant Accountability Act would enact reporting requirements for the indirect costs associated with academic research projects, mandating the comptroller general to submit a report to Congress detailing how indirect cost reimbursements are distributed to colleges. The bill would also prohibit federal agencies from disbursing funds at an indirect rate that is higher than the lowest rate offered to private organizations.

All projects are broken down into two types of costs: direct costs, which include the itemized costs of the project, and indirect costs, which include overhead expenses that are more difficult to quantify. Colleges can receive reimbursements from federal agencies based on what is called an indirect cost rate, which is negotiated between different agencies and specific universities.

These cost rates are determined by a percentage of the direct costs and can be as high as 60% — meaning schools can receive thousands of dollars in reimbursements for indirect costs that can be used by the school at its discretion. While some schools use those funds to go directly toward the project, others are likely used for unrelated purposes, Cline said.

The Virginia Republican cited instances in which large sums of indirect costs are contributing to a growth in DEI staff across college campuses. He specifically pointed to five universities with high numbers of DEI staff members that overwhelmingly outnumber staff in other departments.

For example, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has roughly 13 times as many people assigned to DEI services than there are staff members providing services to students with disabilities, according to research from the Heritage Foundation. At Georgia Tech, there were 3.2 times as many DEI staffers as there were history professors. Additionally, the University of Virginia has 6.5 DEI staff for every 100 professors, the data show.

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Cline cited several concerns with those numbers, pointing to research that an increase in DEI staff on campuses does little to close achievement gaps — and, in some cases, could make those gaps even worse. The Virginia Republican also cited reports that suggest an increased number of DEI staff at schools does not achieve the purpose of promoting inclusion among minority students and can instead result in antisemitic attitudes among staff members.

The legislation has already garnered the support of the conservative Heritage Action, a sister organization to the Heritage Foundation which provided much of the research used to craft the legislation, according to Cline’s office.