Northwestern has given $60k to 'social justice' research projects via 'mini-grants' since 2021

Northwestern University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion is funding graduate student research projects through 'Social Justice Mini-Grants.'

One project funded by the grant involved students interviewing Black residents in Evanston, Illinois, to study “the relationship between Evanston Black residents and the Evanston police department.”

Northwestern University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) is funding graduate student research projects through “Social Justice Mini-Grants.” The Illinois school began offering the yearlong grants in 2021, with the most recent round of grants to be announced this Summer.

ODI describes the grants as supporting “Northwestern graduate students in facilitating, promoting, and advancing innovative ideas on social justice and belonging in Northwestern and larger communities,” requiring that grant recipients have a “commitment to social justice.”

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Suggestions for potential projects from ODI include “[r]esearch projects that advance the study of social equity in the arts and humanities,” “[h]osting conferences on equity and inclusion,” and “[p]rojects that seek to create gender equitable online & technological practices.”

One project funded by the grant for the 2022-2023 school year involved students interviewing Black residents in Evanston, Illinois, to study “the relationship between Evanston Black residents and the Evanston police department.”

Another project supported a group’s “welcome retreat” for “new and returning Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students ... in the Computer Science (CS) department.”

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The ODI website boasts that $60,000 have been awarded through the mini-grants since the initiative began in 2021. 

Campus Reform contacted the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.