Federal grant terminations used to be rare. Under an Office of Management and Budget rule implemented during President Donald J. Trump’s first term, the second Trump Administration has prioritized cancellation of grants, which it has determined “no longer effectuates... the program goals or agency priorities.” When grants are abruptly terminated by federal agencies, postsecondary institutions can lose millions of dollars, setting off a cascade of on campus impacts related to the loss and wind-down of particular research, as well as the jobs and infrastructure supported by indirect cost funds. Today’s campus counsel must be prepared to advise their clients on the nuances of unique grant termination regulations for different federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Energy (DOE).
Please join us for this 30-minute audio-only briefing in which NACUA experts Steve Sencer, Counsel at Ropes & Gray LLP, and Nicole Picard, Associate General Counsel at Brown University will:
- Provide an update on the latest federal grant termination trends;
- Review the latest considerations for institutional appeal rights and related processes; and
- Offer insight on the most important steps colleges and universities should take both before and immediately after they receive a notice of termination.
Who Should Attend?
This briefing will be of interest to college and university counsel who advise on federal research grants, as well as colleagues in offices of sponsored research and grant managers.
Note: This program is the first in NACUA’s “Executive Branch Updates” series, which follows the Transition Updates: The First 100 Days series. This content of this audio-only briefing builds on the First 100 Days series briefing, Federal Grants: What Counsel Need to Know Today (April 11, 2025). Members seeking further, in-depth, CLE-eligible content are also encouraged to sign up for NACUA’s upcoming two-hour Executive Branch Updates webinar, A New World of Federal Fun(?)ding (June 4, 2025).