West Virginia State University has research grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture totaling several million dollars, and school leaders began formulating contingency plans when a partial federal government shutdown that could jeopardize the projects appeared imminent.
As the shutdown began Dec. 22 and entered its 13th day Thursday, Dr. Anthony L. Jenkins wasn’t sweating. The university had deployed a strategy to meet its contractual commitment and get through January without a problem.
“But if we move into February and this thing is still shut down,” Jenkins warned, “it’s going to be problematic for us – and problematic from a payroll standpoint.”
WVSU is one on many schools across the nation where administrators, faculty and students involved in research are hoping that the shutdown doesn’t drag on with the increased potential to harm researchers and their projects funded by affected agencies such as the USDA, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
All of those agencies – whose day-to-day activities have come to a halt, including disbursing grant checks – are funded by appropriations bills that have not been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate to be signed by President Trump. The primary point of contention is funding demanded by Trump for border security, and he insists that he will not sign legislation that does not contain adequate funding for improvements that include a wall.
The University of California system is among several large research institutions across the nation that have called on the legislative and executive branches to quickly reach a budget agreement that will reopen agencies that have been shut down by the political impasse.
“Many of the agencies affected by this shutdown provide critical funding for important research underway by our students, faculty and staff across the university system,” UC spokesperson Kimberly Hale told Diverse.
