DOGE staffer defends diversity grant purge by inexperienced team

• Nathan Cavanaugh, a staffer involved in Elon Musk’s DEI purge, has defended the decision for inexperienced people to cancel government grants.
• Cavanaugh was part of a team reviewing National Endowment for the Humanities requests that contravened a 2025 executive order.
• This order, issued by President Donald Trump, banned anything promoting diversity, equity, or inclusion.
• In a deposition, Cavanaugh said that he did not consider it inappropriate for people without peer review or government experience to make these decisions, which resulted in 97 per cent of grants being cancelled.
• The deposition took place as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Council of Learned Societies.

IN FULL

DOGE lead says inexperienced team didn’t need ‘scholarly background’ to deny millions in DEI grants