Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum loses grants
The latest local institution to feel the pain of the Trump/Musk funding cut axe is The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia. Earlier this month, The Rosenbach, which collects and exhibits historical documents and books, was notified that two sizable federal grants have been canceled — one $248,953 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and one $330,977 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The IMLS grant was to fund the digitizing of the museum’s collection, and the NEH grant was for technical upgrades for the museum’s facility.
In a statement, Rosenbach Director Kelsey Scouten Bates responded to the cuts. “Sudden losses like these erode our ability to hold and share world history, American history, the beauty and power of language, and the most important medium for language the world has ever known: the book. But our small staff at the Rosenbach remains committed to sharing our collection of books and history with as many people as possible because we know that words are more powerful than any other tool in existence.”
The Rosenbach’s annual operating budget is around $2 million.
Harvard rejects Trump
Harvard University, arguably America’s most prestigious Ivy League school, has rejected a list of demands from the Trump administration, and is paying the price. Among the requests were to eliminate DEI programs, screen international students who are “supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism,” and ensure “viewpoint diversity” in its hiring. The Trump administration responded quickly on April 14, freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts.
In an open letter to faculty and students, Harvard President Alan Garber wrote, “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
At stake is more than $9 billion in federal funding for the university.
In response to the funding freeze, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on April 21, claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful. Garber announced the action in a letter to the university community which said the freeze would hamper critical disease research.
In response to the lawsuit, the White House said the “gravy train of federal assistance” was coming to an end.
Harvard is not the only institute of higher learning facing Trump’s punitive wrath. Columbia University has lost $400 million in federal funds, Northwestern $790 million, Cornell over $1 billion, and Temple University $3 million. Additionally, many of Temple’s international students have had their visas revoked.
Pennsylvania’s Mt. Lebanon Library becomes book sanctuary
The Mt. Lebanon library in Allegheny County has become the first public library in Pennsylvania to declare itself a book sanctuary. Book sanctuaries, for the uninitiated, are places that “pledge to collect and protect endangered books that meet the standards of the library’s collection policy.”
The library’s director, Robyn Vittek, said that making the library a book sanctuary was a way to say that “libraries are for everyone.” In mid-February, the library’s Board of Trustees voted to adopt the resolution, joining public libraries in Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; Hoboken, New Jersey; and Arlington, Virginia, in the fight against book banning.
Vittek said that the Mt. Lebanon community’s response to becoming a book sanctuary has been “100% positive.”
The ACLU and Pentagon school students sue DoD over book bans
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sued the Department of Defense’s education agency and defense secretary Pete Hegseth for the removal of books from schools run by the Defense Department. About 67,000 children of military families attend these schools on bases around the world.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of twelve students who argue that their First Amendment rights are being violated. They also argue that it is endangering children by preventing their education in health or learning about abuse. In addition, this censorship means that AP students are not being taught material about sex and gender that may appear on their AP Psychology exam. These schools have been on the front lines of anti-DEI policies. In addition to removing books about gender, sexuality or race, the schools also cancelled Black History Month and Women’s History Month.This isn’t the only kind of censorship these students are facing. Their yearbooks have also been restricted from any mention of the existence of trans people. A letter from management instructs that “student yearbooks are not to include any visual depictions, written content, or editorial choices that would directly or indirectly support the instruction, advancement, and/or promotion of ‘gender ideology’ and/or ‘social transition.’”