‘I was gutted,’ says SLU professor who lost $349K federal grant

Saint Louis University’s reputation as a home for cutting-edge research got a boost in January 2024. That’s when the university announced it had won a prestigious three-year, $349,907 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to revamp its 10-year-old, internationally recognized online manuscript transcription service.

The project would, for instance, allow a scholar analyzing a letter from Ben Franklin “to save images of Ben Franklin’s own handwriting, together with your transcription of it, and have that accessible to students and teachers everywhere,” said Atria Larson, a SLU associate professor of medieval Christianity and the project’s lead investigator.

But then Donald Trump was sworn in as president, and within weeks his administration took a chainsaw to federal grants supporting research in the sciences, arts and humanities—a scorched earth approach that critics predict could stymie innovation, slow economic growth, and harm the careers of scientists and scholars.

On April 2, the NEH announced the immediate termination of more than 1,400 grants—or 85 percent of its existing total, a list whose recipients include libraries, museums, historical sites, and scholarly projects. Caught on the chopping block was the SLU grant, which, with matching funds, carried a value of $450,000.  

The NEH cited a shift in presidential priorities, backed up by an executive order signed by Trump.

Larson admitted she took the news hard. NEH grant applications are highly competitive endeavors that require many hours of work and peer evaluation. Now all that work had vanished with a tersely worded email from NEH headquarters.

“I was gutted,” Larson said. “I think I just sat and stared at my computer for 10 minutes. I had glazed eyes when I got the notification.”

What made the notice hurt even more was the seemingly random nature of the grant termination. “So to have the grant completely taken away from you by people who don’t know your field, don’t care about your research, don’t know anything about the research, it’s very difficult,” she said. “It seems very unjust and arbitrary.”

Also receiving bad news about grant terminations were Washington University, which lost two NEH grants totaling nearly $450,000, and the Missouri Historical Society, which lost a grant for more than $238,000.

All told, Missouri lost nine NEH grants, with the largest a nearly $3 million grant for general operations at humanities councils across the state of Missouri, according to a database of terminated NEH grants obtained by SLM.

The New York Times reports that Michael McDonald, the NEH’s acting director, told its 24-member advisory council that the endowment would “pivot to supporting the White House agenda…”

In particular, the Times reported, the agency would support Trump’s planned $34 million patriotic sculpture garden containing hundreds of lifesize statues of American heroes from eras past—with each statue costing between $100,000 and $200,000 apiece to create—and the “the broader celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence on July 4, 2026.” The agency has solicited artists willing to make “realistics” statues of figures including George Washington, Davy Crockett, John Wayne, Julia Child, Kobe Bryant, and more.

The NEH did not return repeated calls or emails.

Clayton Berry, a SLU spokesman, said in a statement the university was aware of the grant termination. 

“We continue to thoughtfully analyze each directive and development that affects our research community, and we remain committed to supporting our scholars as they advance knowledge that enriches the humanities,” he wrote. “We don’t have any additional comments to make or information to provide at this time.”

Washington University lost two NEH grants: One for $298,782 for a project called “Translating the Americas: Early Jewish Writings on the New World,” and one for $142,800 for interdisciplinary studies. 

WashU spokesman Liam Otten declined comment on the lost NEH grants, citing a statement the university issued in February in the wake of cuts to research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health.

According to the statement—signed by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin; Dr. David H. Perlmutter, the medical school dean; and Beverly Wendland, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs—the university is “mobilized on multiple fronts. Our leadership team is closely reviewing the policy, and our government relations team is engaging with congressional representatives and others to ensure that they understand the consequences of these cuts and are encouraged to act to address this threat to research and its many benefits to society. We also are working with our national organizations to respond to this issue.” 

U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell (D-St. Louis) issued a statement saying, “When we invest in education, the arts, and the humanities, we invest in the future of the St. Louis region. Institutions like Washington University, Saint Louis University, and the Missouri Historical Society don’t just teach history—they create jobs, drive innovation, and strengthen our communities. Cutting this funding doesn’t just set back a few organizations. It takes opportunities away from students, workers, and families across our region. We should be expanding opportunity, not pulling the rug out from under it.”

Larson has not given up hope for the online transcription project that she was running at SLU, with help from Patrick Cuba and Bryan Haberberger, of the university’s Research Computing Group.

But progress will be tough. Out of the $450,000 in NEH funds and matching grants, about $350,000 has been frozen as a result of the grant termination.

“We’ll take it forward as best we can,” she said. “But it’s like taking a runner and having them fall and break their arm in the middle of the race. You can try to keep going, but it definitely slows you down significantly.”

Journalist Mike Fitzgerald can be reached at [email protected].