Santa Fe humanities research center loses grant amid Trump cuts
As the Trump administration continues to prioritize spending cuts and sweeping change across the federal government, a Santa Fe-based humanities research institution has been notified a $900,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities has been canceled.
The School for Advanced Research, formerly known as the School of American Research, was recently informed a significant grant to support improvements for its Indian Arts Research Center is being cut, according to school President Morris Foster. The campus offers scholar residency, seminar and artist fellowship programs, among other things.
The National Endowment for the Humanities has canceled most of its grant programs and last week started putting staff on administrative leave, The New York Times reports. Foster said the letter notifying the School for Advanced Research about the funding cut read, in part: "Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government.'
This follows the Trump administration slashing funding for the New Mexico Humanities Council last week in similar fashion, meaning several arts, culture and history programs around the state will lose funds.
The "4-to-1" challenge grant, for which the School for Advanced Research had raised its own funds, was aimed at refreshing the furnishing and storage for the 12,000-item collection in the Indian Arts Research Center, which houses Indigenous textiles, pottery and jewelry. The collection carries items dating back to 500 A.D. and forward to the present, focusing on Native pueblos and nations in New Mexico and the Southwest.
The National Endowment for the Arts did not immediately respond to emailed questions on Wednesday.
Foster said the improvements project at the research facility's Indian Arts Research Center will continue with or without the grant, noting the research center is approaching the halfway point in its $4.6 million fundraising goal for the initiative.
"We will do it," Foster said of the project. "It's unfortunate we will not have the NEH's help in getting there, but we will get there."
The National Endowment for the Humanities, small compared to some other federal agencies, has provided more than $6.4 billion to support more than 70,000 projects in the U.S. since its inception in 1965, according to its website. Many museums and other organizations rely on the agency as a key source of funding.
In terms of impact in the Land of Enchantment, the agency's website states it issued $9.8 million from the 2019 to 2023 financial years to support 52 projects in New Mexico.
An award highlight listed on the website is funding for the University of New Mexico so it could pursue research and create a book on the "contribution made by native speakers of the indigenous South American language Quechua to the writing system during the colonial era."
Foster said donors have responded with donations since learning about the $900,000 grant being cut.
Foster penned a message to the campus' network of constituents through an email list, according to Meredith Schweitzer, a spokesperson for the School for Advanced Research.
"We must not think about the state of the humanities as losing ground, because how we frame that question — 'decline,' 'losing,' 'threatened' — shapes how we think about the societal value of the humanities more broadly," Foster wrote in the message. "The humanities will always be part of us and cannot be diminished by withdrawing a grant."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
'No Kings' organizers say protests drew large crowds: Here are their estimates
'No Kings' organizers say protests drew large crowds: Here are their estimates Show Caption Hide Caption Millions march in 'No Kings' protests across country Millions marched in cities and towns across the U.S. in "No Kings" protests to rally against the Trump administration. Organizers of the "No Kings" rallies that swept across the nation June 14 said the protests drew large crowds that marched against the Trump administration. The American Civil Liberties Union, a part of the coalition that put on the demonstrations, said in a late Saturday, June 14 statement that more than five million people participated in over 2,100 rallies and protests. Political organizing group Move On, who was a partner in the "No Kings" rallies, echoed the 5 million person estimate in a fundraising email. Jeremy Pressman, the co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium – a Harvard University and University of Connecticut project that estimates political crowds – told USA TODAY June 15 that it will take "some time" to complete an estimate on the "No Kings" rallies. The Los Angeles Times reported that "tens of thousands" of people demonstrated in the city roiled by Trump's recent immigration enforcement. The New York Post reported that 50,000 people showed up in New York City, where President Donald Trump was born. "Today's protests are a resounding message that people across the nation will not be intimidated by President Trump's fear tactics," ACLU Chief Political & Advocacy Officer Deirdre Schifeling said in the statement. "Americans are brave, democracy loving people and will not sit idly by as the Trump administration feeds our Constitution into the shredder — nor will the ACLU." 'No Kings' protests across US largely peaceful The mostly calm marches, organized under the theme that no individual is above the law, coincided with the day Trump presided over a military parade on the streets of the nation's capital. A demonstration in Northern Virginia, about 70 miles from Washington, D.C., was met with violence when a man intentionally drove an SUV through a crowd of departing protesters, striking at least one person, police said. Police in Los Angeles hit protesters with batons, fired tear gas and ordered a large crowd in downtown to disperse; authorities said they were responding to people throwing "rocks, bricks, bottles," and "fireworks" at officials. In Minnesota, organizers canceled protests across the state out of an abundance of caution after a shooter targeted local lawmakers, killing one and her spouse at their home and injuring another lawmaker and his spouse at their residence. In a statement, the "No Kings" group said it was adhering to guidance from Minnesota State Patrol and Gov. Tim Walz, who urged people not to attend any rallies Saturday. Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Sarah D. Wire, Jeanine Santucci, Jonathan Limehouse, Jay Calderon, Brian Day, USA TODAY.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Deployed to Meet an ‘Invasion,' Marines Were Once Invaders of Mexico
As they have sought to justify sending 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have described the demonstrators in the city as carrying foreign flags with the intention of continuing an 'invasion' of the United States. To some Angelenos, the notion that their city was being invaded by Mexico might sound like a fantastical twist on the history of U.S.-Mexico military relations. After all, U.S. Marines were among the invaders in the 19th-century war between Mexico and the United States that forced Mexico to give up more than half of its territory — including what is now the state of California. 'Mexican Americans have a saying here, 'They didn't cross the border, the border crossed them,'' said Gaspar Rivera Salgado, director of the Center for Mexican Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the historical memory of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, he added, the American invasion is remembered. The year was 1847, and the United States and Mexico were in the middle of a heated conflict that had begun the previous year under President James K. Polk, during an American push for westward expansion and white dominance. American troops landed near the port city of Veracruz on Mexico's eastern coast, alongside the ocean basin that Mr. Trump has sought to rename the Gulf of America. About 12,000 soldiers, including about 400 Marines, unloaded supplies, weapons and horses and laid siege to the city for 20 days, until it fell. The operation gave the American troops a base from which to advance westward to Mexico City. And there, on a cold and foggy morning that September, hundreds of U.S. Marines were among the 7,000 military men who descended on a rundown castle known as Chapultepec. They pushed past the Mexican defenses there with bayonets and cannons, and used ladders to scale the castle's stone walls. Inside, they expected to encounter more Mexican soldiers, but all they found were 132 military cadets. Few Americans today remember the Battle of Chapultepec, but in Mexican children's history books, the bravery of the young men is the stuff of lore. A garrison commander is said to have given the cadets orders to fall back, but six of them did not retreat — they fought bravely to the death. The Battle of Chapultepec let to the capture of Mexico City that essentially ended the war. Five months later, on Feb. 2, 1848, Mexico and the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which carved a jagged new border, nearly 2,000 miles long. That border, modified further by the Gadsden Purchase six years later, became the backdrop for immigration battles past and present. The Marine Corps memorializes the Marines who fell in the Veracruz campaign. On their navy-blue trousers, Marines wear a scarlet stripe in their honor, a symbol of their bravery, and their blood.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Trump warns America ‘could get involved' directly in Israel-Iran conflict
President Trump warned Sunday that the US could get directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict if things continue to escalate. While Trump predicted that Iran and Israel will 'make a deal' to end the deadly violence that has seen the Jewish state and Islamic republic exchange countless missiles since Friday, the president said the US may find itself involved if a truce doesn't happen. 'We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,' Trump told ABC News. 3 President Trump said Sunday that the US could get directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. via REUTERS Advertisement 3 Iran continues to launch waves of retaliatory attacks on Tel Aviv after Israel's preemptive attack on it Friday. ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Trump suggested that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, could serve as a mediator between Israel and Iran, both of which the Kremlin has maintained relations. 'He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation,' Trump said, referring to Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine. 'This is something I believe is going to get resolved.' Advertisement Despite Trump's denial that the US is already involved in the Mideast conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday that it is clear Israel has been coordinating its attacks with the 'agreement and support of the United States. 'We have received messages from the US through various channels over the past two days stating that the US had no involvement and will have no involvement in this attack,' he said. 'As I said, we don't believe the US's claim.' 3 Smoke billows over Tehran during a wave of Israeli airstrikes Sunday. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement As the attacks between Israel and Iran escalate, the US State Department said it has authorized the 'voluntary departure of family members and some non-emergency U.S. government employees' from Israel. 'US citizens who wish to depart should not delay in taking advantage of commercial transportation options,' the State Department said in a memo, adding that the embassy's shelter-in-place order remains in effect until further notice. With Post wires
