5 ms·

Executive order on Smithsonian targets funding programs with 'improper ideology'

72 points by petethomas 2y ago

OgsyedIE 2y ago
Is there a list of all of the museums that are controlled by the US federal government?
- walrus01 2y ago
  As with many non profits and charities, if you did a detailed look at the revenue of many museums and performing arts centers (Kennedy Center in WA DC for instance), their funding sources are diverse and various. But there's a few noteworthy ones like the Smithsonian where I would take a wild guess that the federal government might be 65% or more of their operating budget on an annual basis, giving the government a very large lever of influence. For those which are a 501(c)3 you can go find their annual IRS tax filings and make an attempt at breaking down their different incoming revenue streams.
wrs 2y ago
They're not even trying not to sound Russian. And by Russian I mean Soviet Russian.
wombatpm 2y ago
Word of the day is : wrongthink. Wrongthink is doubleplusungood. Don’t wrongthink.
- phoobahr 2y ago
  [flagged]
like_any_other 2y ago
This is not new, only applied to programs instead of staff (which probably means it won't be as effective): Diversity Statements Required for One-Fifth of Academic Jobs - https://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2021/11/11/study-diversity-statements-required-for-one-fifth-of-academic-jobs/ https://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2021/11/11/study-diversity-... Life science jobs at Berkeley give precedence to candidates’ diversity and inclusion statements - https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2019/12/31/life-science-jobs-at-berkeley-with-hiring-giving-precedence-to-diversity-and-inclusion-statements/ https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2019/12/31/life-science-jobs-... FIRE calls on UC Santa Cruz to drop diversity statement mandate for faculty applicants - https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-calls-uc-santa-cruz-drop-diversity-statement-mandate-faculty-applicants https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-calls-uc-santa-cruz-drop-d... Minority professor denied grants because he hires on merit - https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/minority-professor-denied-grants-because-he-hires-on-merit-people-are-afraid-to-think https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/minority-professor-deni...
davidguetta 2y ago
[flagged]
- bilbo0s 2y ago
  Sounds pretty much the same to me.
- nickthegreek 2y ago
  Did that happen? Followup, are the quote marks you used in recognition of the strawman you lazily constructed?
  - like_any_other 2y ago
    A scholarship only for Blacks: https://www.foxnews.com/media/george-floyd-scholarship-violates-federal-civil-rights-law-lawsuit-claims https://www.foxnews.com/media/george-floyd-scholarship-viola... A scholarship only for underrepresented minorities (The scholarship specifically denotes “African American, Latinx, and/or Native American” as groups the institution considers to be “underrepresented.”): https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2877847/emory-medical-school-hit-with-civil-rights-complaint-for-race-based-scholarship/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2877847/emory-medica... From the UK, schools reject a donation to make a scholarship for white boys: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50947271 https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50947271 A scholarship that excludes whites (the article links to the government website for that scholarship, if you don't trust them): https://freebeacon.com/campus/illinois-runs-a-scholarship-that-excludes-white-applicants-it-could-get-the-states-top-universities-defunded/ https://freebeacon.com/campus/illinois-runs-a-scholarship-th... Small business grants that exclude whites (again, the article links government sources): https://citizenwatchreport.com/pennsylvania-begins-rolling-out-race-based-grants-for-businesses-not-available-to-whites/ https://citizenwatchreport.com/pennsylvania-begins-rolling-o...
    - nickthegreek 2y ago
      Oh, so a few of the grants exist (some outside of the USA) at some places across the country, all of which are not the Smithsonian. Got it.
MollyGodiva 2y ago
The Smithsonian is not in the Executive branch. Trump has no authority there. But that won't stop them from complying and destroying their own museums.
- sparrish 2y ago
  Which of the three branches does the Smithsonian fall under?
  - 1659447091 2y ago
    None it seems.[0] > The Smithsonian Institution is a trust instrumentality of the United States ... Congress delegated the authority and responsibilities of the United States to the Smithsonian Board of Regents. ... The Smithsonian Institution is considered unique in the Federal establishment. The Smithsonian is not an executive branch agency and does not exercise regulatory powers, except over its own buildings and grounds. ... Thus, courts have held that the Smithsonian is not an agency or authority of the Government... [0] https://www.si.edu/ogc/legalhistory https://www.si.edu/ogc/legalhistory
- rickydroll 2y ago
  I hope there are archivists at the Smithsonian who will preserve any removed content in a box in a warehouse next to the Ark of the Covenant.
bediger4000 2y ago
"Improper ideology" is the politically correct term for woke. Irony in its most ferrous form.
- UncleEntity 2y ago
  Huh, I thought they were talking about those who fought against the Confederacy during the War of Northern Aggression.
archagon 2y ago
From the executive order: > The exhibit further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating “Race is a human invention.” So I guess "race is a biological reality" is an official stance of this administration. How long until actual segregation makes a return? ...oh, wait: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5326118/segregation-federal-contracts-far-regulation-trump https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx...
- like_any_other 2y ago
  How would race not be a biological reality? Recently there was an article posted on HN, "Ancient DNA Shows Stone Age Europeans Voyaged by Sea to Africa" [1]. How could they distinguish stone age Europeans from Africans by DNA, if it's all socially constructed? Or how can humans, most of the time, tell someone's race by appearance alone, without knowing anything about their lived experience or upbringing? [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00764-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00764-2
  - hakfoo 2y ago
    The spectrum is a matter of nature. Drawing lines in it and saying "Group A begins here and B begins there", and more importantly "A gets access to the good schools and country clubs to the exclusion of B" are human constructs.
    - like_any_other 2y ago
      Yes, exactly. So saying "race cannot be meaningfully unambiguously described by a handful of totally discrete categories" is true. Saying it has no biological basis is clearly false, in the same sense that saying "color has no physical basis" is false, just because there is no clear way to exactly determine which pigments or wavelengths should fall into red, green, or blue (or how many and which primary colors there should be).
ginvok 2y ago
And so we're getting to the burning books part.

72 points by petethomas 2y ago

OgsyedIE 2y ago

Is there a list of all of the museums that are controlled by the US federal government?

walrus01 2y ago
As with many non profits and charities, if you did a detailed look at the revenue of many museums and performing arts centers (Kennedy Center in WA DC for instance), their funding sources are diverse and various. But there's a few noteworthy ones like the Smithsonian where I would take a wild guess that the federal government might be 65% or more of their operating budget on an annual basis, giving the government a very large lever of influence. For those which are a 501(c)3 you can go find their annual IRS tax filings and make an attempt at breaking down their different incoming revenue streams.

wrs 2y ago

They're not even trying not to sound Russian. And by Russian I mean Soviet Russian.

wombatpm 2y ago

Word of the day is : wrongthink. Wrongthink is doubleplusungood. Don’t wrongthink.

phoobahr 2y ago
[flagged]

like_any_other 2y ago

This is not new, only applied to programs instead of staff (which probably means it won't be as effective): Diversity Statements Required for One-Fifth of Academic Jobs - https://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2021/11/11/study-diversity-statements-required-for-one-fifth-of-academic-jobs/ https://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2021/11/11/study-diversity-... Life science jobs at Berkeley give precedence to candidates’ diversity and inclusion statements - https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2019/12/31/life-science-jobs-at-berkeley-with-hiring-giving-precedence-to-diversity-and-inclusion-statements/ https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2019/12/31/life-science-jobs-... FIRE calls on UC Santa Cruz to drop diversity statement mandate for faculty applicants - https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-calls-uc-santa-cruz-drop-diversity-statement-mandate-faculty-applicants https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-calls-uc-santa-cruz-drop-d... Minority professor denied grants because he hires on merit - https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/minority-professor-denied-grants-because-he-hires-on-merit-people-are-afraid-to-think https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/minority-professor-deni...

davidguetta 2y ago

[flagged]

bilbo0s 2y ago
Sounds pretty much the same to me.
nickthegreek 2y ago
Did that happen? Followup, are the quote marks you used in recognition of the strawman you lazily constructed?
- like_any_other 2y ago
  A scholarship only for Blacks: https://www.foxnews.com/media/george-floyd-scholarship-violates-federal-civil-rights-law-lawsuit-claims https://www.foxnews.com/media/george-floyd-scholarship-viola... A scholarship only for underrepresented minorities (The scholarship specifically denotes “African American, Latinx, and/or Native American” as groups the institution considers to be “underrepresented.”): https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2877847/emory-medical-school-hit-with-civil-rights-complaint-for-race-based-scholarship/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2877847/emory-medica... From the UK, schools reject a donation to make a scholarship for white boys: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50947271 https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50947271 A scholarship that excludes whites (the article links to the government website for that scholarship, if you don't trust them): https://freebeacon.com/campus/illinois-runs-a-scholarship-that-excludes-white-applicants-it-could-get-the-states-top-universities-defunded/ https://freebeacon.com/campus/illinois-runs-a-scholarship-th... Small business grants that exclude whites (again, the article links government sources): https://citizenwatchreport.com/pennsylvania-begins-rolling-out-race-based-grants-for-businesses-not-available-to-whites/ https://citizenwatchreport.com/pennsylvania-begins-rolling-o...
  - nickthegreek 2y ago
    Oh, so a few of the grants exist (some outside of the USA) at some places across the country, all of which are not the Smithsonian. Got it.

MollyGodiva 2y ago

The Smithsonian is not in the Executive branch. Trump has no authority there. But that won't stop them from complying and destroying their own museums.

sparrish 2y ago
Which of the three branches does the Smithsonian fall under?
- 1659447091 2y ago
  None it seems.[0] > The Smithsonian Institution is a trust instrumentality of the United States ... Congress delegated the authority and responsibilities of the United States to the Smithsonian Board of Regents. ... The Smithsonian Institution is considered unique in the Federal establishment. The Smithsonian is not an executive branch agency and does not exercise regulatory powers, except over its own buildings and grounds. ... Thus, courts have held that the Smithsonian is not an agency or authority of the Government... [0] https://www.si.edu/ogc/legalhistory https://www.si.edu/ogc/legalhistory
rickydroll 2y ago
I hope there are archivists at the Smithsonian who will preserve any removed content in a box in a warehouse next to the Ark of the Covenant.

bediger4000 2y ago

"Improper ideology" is the politically correct term for woke. Irony in its most ferrous form.

UncleEntity 2y ago
Huh, I thought they were talking about those who fought against the Confederacy during the War of Northern Aggression.

archagon 2y ago

From the executive order: > The exhibit further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating “Race is a human invention.” So I guess "race is a biological reality" is an official stance of this administration. How long until actual segregation makes a return? ...oh, wait: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5326118/segregation-federal-contracts-far-regulation-trump https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx...

like_any_other 2y ago
How would race not be a biological reality? Recently there was an article posted on HN, "Ancient DNA Shows Stone Age Europeans Voyaged by Sea to Africa" [1]. How could they distinguish stone age Europeans from Africans by DNA, if it's all socially constructed? Or how can humans, most of the time, tell someone's race by appearance alone, without knowing anything about their lived experience or upbringing? [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00764-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00764-2
- hakfoo 2y ago
  The spectrum is a matter of nature. Drawing lines in it and saying "Group A begins here and B begins there", and more importantly "A gets access to the good schools and country clubs to the exclusion of B" are human constructs.
  - like_any_other 2y ago
    Yes, exactly. So saying "race cannot be meaningfully unambiguously described by a handful of totally discrete categories" is true. Saying it has no biological basis is clearly false, in the same sense that saying "color has no physical basis" is false, just because there is no clear way to exactly determine which pigments or wavelengths should fall into red, green, or blue (or how many and which primary colors there should be).

ginvok 2y ago

And so we're getting to the burning books part.