A provision in Congress’ defense bill for fiscal year 2023 supersizes investments for expanding research capacity at colleges and universities with higher numbers of minority students.
Congress set aside $131.7 million in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Pentagon to conduct a pilot program aimed at deepening research and development partnerships between the Department of Defense (DOD) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The legislation follows a report from earlier in 2022 advocating for “social justice” norms across the DOD enterprise.
Although Republican lawmakers have criticized the DOD’s emphasis on race and ethnicity both in the ranks and in other arms of the sprawling defense establishment, arguing such a focus cripples the agency’s ability to respond to the global security threats facing the United States today, the bill has bipartisan origins in the Senate….