[Ed Note: Everyone in Education and Engineering knows that there is a lack of women and minorities in STEM and this has been an issue for decades. Trying to diversify STEM is a good thing, it should not be politicized or put into the same category as WOKE, IMO]

The Washington Examiner (8/14, Deese) reported the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel last week determined “that three of the National Science Foundation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs are unconstitutional because of their race- and sex-based criteria, although the agency has so far declined to say whether it would change or halt them.” In a memorandum opinion released on Aug. 12 and “addressed to the NSF general counsel, the DOJ’s OLC said the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions program, the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate program, and the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program all violate the Constitution’s equal-protection guarantee ‘in their entirety.’” The three programs “account for roughly $104 million of NSF’s $938 million STEM education fund.”

        According to Inside Higher Ed (8/14, Sanchez), the Office of Legal Counsel “said the NSF can still use the money on other initiatives related to STEM education. The NSF has spent decades trying to attract more women and racial minorities to STEM careers, but the agency shifted its priorities in spring 2025.”