Overview
- Depositions and spreadsheets detail a fixed prompt instructing ChatGPT to give 120‑character Yes/No answers on whether grants related to DEI, without a working definition.
- Filings say more than $100 million in NEH funding was targeted, with 1,057 of 1,163 proposals flagged and only 42 retained, and some Biden-era awards singled out.
- Canceled awards included a $349,000 High Point Museum HVAC replacement in North Carolina; the museum says it recouped about 70% after termination.
- Oregon institutions report concrete fallout, with the High Desert Museum losing $750,000 across five grants and University of Oregon projects cut despite competitive peer review.
- ACLS, AHA, MLA and the Authors Guild argue First Amendment and equal protection violations, as a DOGE deponent conceded the cuts did not reduce the deficit and NEH’s acting director acknowledged DOGE drove the decisions.