Princeton joined eight other universities and three national higher education associations in a lawsuit against the Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday over the department’s recent slash to indirect cost rates. The lawsuit includes as a plaintiff the Association of American Universities, whose board is chaired by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.
According to the lawsuit, Princeton has a total of 112 awards and subawards from the DOE. In the fiscal year 2024, the University spent $32.6 million in research supported by the DOE, of which $10 million supported indirect costs. Indirect costs refer to overhead expenses for administrative and expert staff, lab maintenance, and security that cannot be attributed to a specific project.
On April 11, the DOE announced that indirect costs of DOE research funding would be capped at 15 percent. The DOE claimed this policy will save taxpayers $405 million annually from the $2.5 billion in funding it provides. The universities argued in the lawsuit that the cuts would have significant impacts, writing that “indirect costs are critical to supporting and maintaining world-class research.”
Several schools estimated in the filing how much they would stand to lose from the DOE’s policy. Princeton did not, only writing that it would lose “substantial dollars.”
“Nor does it consider that the across-the-board 15 percent rate amounts to a decision to fund only part of the costs of research DOE supports,” the lawsuit continues. “[This] ultimately amounts simply to a decision to fund less research of particular types—including research that relies heavily on expensive overhead, as cutting-edge research often does.”
The lawsuit also argues the rate cap policy is “arbitrary and capricious because, without explanation, it imposes its new categorical 15 percent cap only on universities and not other DOE grant recipients.” The lawsuit does not mention Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a Department of Energy national laboratory managed by Princeton University. In 2023, PPPL received $185 million from the DOE, its sole sponsor.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, comes in the wake of a lawsuit against similar NIH policies issued in February. Princeton submitted a declaration by Provost Jennifer Rexford in support of the plaintiffs, although it did not join that suit. A judge permanently blocked the Trump administration from limiting NIH funding on April 4, though the administration can, and likely will, appeal.
The plaintiffs, which include Brown, Cornell, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are represented by Jenner & Block LLP, a firm separately suing the Trump administration after the president signed an executive order limiting federal building access to the firm’s employees.
The DOE was among the several federal agencies that suspended several dozen research grants to Princeton on April 1, citing an ongoing investigation of antisemitism on campus.
Andrew Bosworth is the Research Editor for the ‘Prince.’
Christopher Bao is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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