Python rejects $1.5m US government grant to avoid compromising ethics with anti-DEI policies

• Python Software Foundation rejects what would be the largest grant ever awarded
• To accept the grant, it would have to abandon any DEI related activity
• The National Science Foundation would be able to 'claw back' the funds

The Python Software Foundation has rejected a $1.5 million government grant in order to maintain its values and commitments to integrity.

Python’s board voted unanimously to withdraw their application from what would have been the largest grant in the organization’s history in protest against rules outlined by the US Government in accepting such awards.

The Trump administration’s anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) requirements mean that any recipients of grants given by the National Science Foundation must adhere to political requirements, not just to the security work directly funded by the grant, but to ‘any and all activity of the PSF as a whole’ - meaning Python would be forced to abandon any projects that might fall under this umbrella.

Right to ‘claw back’

The terms cited by the Python Software Foundation included the requirements that it would not “during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.”

This means it would be unable to carry out its foundational mission statement’s goal to ‘support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers,” - a commitment entirely incompatible with the restrictive conditions of the grant.

‘Further, violation of this term gave the NSF the right to “claw back” previously approved and transferred funds. This would create a situation where money we’d already spent could be taken back, which would be an enormous, open-ended financial risk,’ the Python Software Foundation continued in its statement.

This isn’t the first time the Trump administration’s attempts to control and manipulate private companies into aligning with the current administration’s political vision have fallen flat, with non-profit organization The Carpentries also withdrawing a similar application so that it could continue to support and educate underrepresented students in outreach, recruitment, and participation programs.

The National Science Foundation isn’t the only department to employ strict political restrictions to its grant programs, either. The Department of Homeland Security also indicated that election security funding would be withheld from states if they didn’t comply with voting policy goals - making the funds inaccessible for most of the country.

This represents a serious and concerning move towards authoritarianism, with the President and administration holding necessary funding hostage in order to tightly control the political direction of private and public organizations alike.

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