One grant provides funding for ‘non-traditional travel expenses for LGBTQ+ students’
The University of Connecticut appears to be using taxpayer funds to award internal diversity, equity, and inclusion grants, including one that provides travel funds specifically for “LGBTQ+ students,” according to documents reviewed by The College Fix.
Among the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives” grants awarded by UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences this year was a marine science project titled, “Making Marine Sciences a More Diverse and Welcoming Workplace.” The Fix obtained the grant proposals and awards documents through an open records request.
The grant comes from an internal funding program, run through the college, that supports “projects that align with goals in the CLAS Strategic Plan, including research, scholarship, teaching, diversity efforts, and outreach.” The college awards the grants annually.
The marine science project, submitted by Professor David Lund, allocates $6,000 to “support DEI travel,” specifically by creating a fund to offset “non-traditional travel expenses for LGBTQ+ students” attending conferences or completing fieldwork as part of their graduate studies. The grant proposal also mentions the travel funds will be used for students with disabilities.
The grant also will be used to host a “code of conduct” workshop to “prevent bias incidents,” and recruit graduate students through the American Geophysical Union Bridges Program, which works to “increase the proportion of under-represented minority graduate students in geosciences.”
University spokesperson Stephanie Reitz pointed The Fix to language in the grant proposal when asked about civil rights compliance and the funding specifically for LGBTQ+ students.
It states that LGBTQ+ and disabled students “are often faced with additional logistics and expenses associated with accommodations, travel documentation, and bathroom access,” adding that “safety is an ongoing” concern in some parts of the world.
It notes that LGBTQ+ students “may be uncomfortable or feel unsafe sharing a room, which is a common practice used by many graduate students to reduce expenses.”
The grant proposal also cites studies in the journals AGU Advances and Nature that argue for the need for better “gender identity” accommodations in scientific research settings.
Reitz told The Fix in an email Monday, “As you’ll see, the proposal references published research independent of UConn that supports its statements. As with all state and federal laws, UConn has always continually worked to ensure we are in compliance with Title VI, and that remains the case today.”
The College Fix also emailed Professor Lund in the Marine Sciences Department twice over the past week to ask what expenses qualify as non-traditional and whether heterosexual students would be eligible for the same travel funds. He did not respond.
However, Professor Stanley Ridgley, a business professor at Drexel University and author of “Brutal Minds,” a book on the leftist ideological capture of higher education, criticized the program in a recent email to The Fix.
“I hate slush funds like this UConn racket,” Ridgley said. “Funding student activism is what a lot of these schools do, Bryn Mawr College among them—it’s one of the worst.”
Ridgley said many faculty members use euphemisms to mask political activism. “They’ll mask ‘student activism’ by calling it ‘leadership.’ This is one of the most common euphemisms. Wherever you find a non-business ‘Leadership’ course, look really hard at it—it’s likely how to generate activism on campus and elsewhere.”
The marine sciences grant is one of several approved by the university as part of its internal DEI initiative.
It also gave an $8,000 grant to the project “Advancing Mathematics Teaching Through Equity-Minded Inquiry and Transformative Teaching.”
“Many have long considered math to be a neutral subject matter, assuming that teaching the content of mathematics does not play a role in perpetuating racism or advancing educational inequity. However, data from across the nation suggests a more complex and troubling reality,” the grant proposal states.
Another $8,000 grant—submitted by faculty members Mars Plater, Ingrid Semaan, and Simon Shachter — describes a need to support students who identify as queer or transgender because “their identities have become political talking points.” The money will fund projects through the “Queer Collaborative” at UConn-Stamford.
Another award funds gift cards for students to incentivize participation in a study focused on diversity and classroom climate. In total, the university awarded $76,125 to internal DEI projects for the 2024–2025 cycle.
Similar grants funded at the federal level are being cut by the Trump administration.
One recently highlighted by the Department of Government Efficiency on X funded a program called “Building Racial Equity in Marine Science” through the National Science Foundation.
MORE: Western Washington U. hosts ‘eco-anxiety workshops’ to ease climate change distress
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Women work in a science lab. wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
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