"The grantees are hoping for more information soon and that all canceled awards will be restored. We share these hopes and continue to stand in support of impacted humanities scholars and state councils."
The Simpson Center is delighted to celebrate the news this month of a U.S. federal judge’s ruling that devastating cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), made in April 2025, are "unconstitutional." The judge has ordered the restoration of funding.
It has been a little over a year since the release of our statement in support of the enduring and essential value of the National Endowment for the Humanities, following the DOGE cuts. Directly impacted were grants to four University of Washington faculty members: Ann Hupert (Architecture), Sasha Senderovich (Jackson School for International Studies and Slavic Languages & Literatures), Marika Cifor (Information School), and Katie Bunn-Marcuse (Art History and Burke Museum). Also devastated was funding for state humanities councils like Humanities Washington, leading to a reduction of their outstanding and widely-used educational and cultural programs; a lawsuit brought by Oregon Humanities and the Federation of State Humanities Councils on behalf of state humanities councils is still pending.
To date, the four University of Washington scholars have only received what appears a form notification of the court’s order but have not yet heard whether their grants will, in fact, be reinstated. The grantees are hoping for more information soon and that all canceled awards will be restored. We share these hopes and continue to stand in support of impacted humanities scholars and state councils.
Thank you to the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association, the Modern Language Association, the National Humanities Alliance, and other organizations for their tireless efforts to restore this funding and the good it will do.
Read the ACLS statement about the historic court order as well as media coverage surrounding the announcement.
Note: This article was updated on May 22, 2026 to note the pending lawsuit by the state humanities councils.