strollingbones
Diamond Member
- Sep 19, 2008
- 95,453
- 29,077
CHAPEL HILL
In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced 31 winners in a controversial grant program to fight violent extremism. A team lead by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers won the largest – nearly $900,000 to develop information campaigns to counter jihadist and white supremacist recruiting.
The UNC grant could have had a big impact on the university’s Department of Communication.
But the award was announced during the last week of the Obama administration, and so far the Trump administration has refused to release the money.
“We couldn’t get off the ground without the grant,” said Cori Dauber, a leader of the UNC team. “We’re at zero. I mean, obviously the building’s empty.”
Dauber is a communication professor and expert on jihadist propaganda. She was standing in an empty studio that she and Robinson had expected to fill months ago. They planned to hire students to develop videos and other approaches to undermine efforts such as ISIS recruiting on social media. They hoped the students’ ideas would resonate with people their age, who are often the recruiting targets.
The grant team had been told to expect the money in early spring. They interviewed students and had a promising group ready to hire.
“Thinking that it was coming, we wanted to be in a situation where we could just flip a switch and go,” Dauber said.
But the money didn’t arrive.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in an emailed statement that it’s unclear whether the money will be released. He declined to say why the department hasn’t sent it.
Controversial program
That reticence is one more twist in the complicated history of the grant program, which is called “Countering Violent Extremism.”
Even under Obama, the program was viewed with suspicion by many Muslims. And after Trump took office, opposition grew.
A Muslim student group at UNC started an online petition demanding that the university renounce the grant. At least four Islamic community groups that also were grant recipients did so, saying Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric meant they couldn’t be part of the program.
Meanwhile the Trump administration has proposed eliminating the entire program for other reasons.
A Reuters report shortly after Trump took office said that Homeland Security officials were thinking about retooling the program so that it focused solely on Islamic extremism, not white supremacist groups.
And in its recent budget proposal for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year the administration said it wants to eliminate the program entirely.
Congress, though, has already approved the grant program for the current fiscal year, and U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican from Greensboro, has filed a formal request with Homeland Security asking why the money hasn’t been paid.
UNC won $900,000 federal grant, but Trump administration won’t send the money
In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced 31 winners in a controversial grant program to fight violent extremism. A team lead by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers won the largest – nearly $900,000 to develop information campaigns to counter jihadist and white supremacist recruiting.
The UNC grant could have had a big impact on the university’s Department of Communication.
But the award was announced during the last week of the Obama administration, and so far the Trump administration has refused to release the money.
“We couldn’t get off the ground without the grant,” said Cori Dauber, a leader of the UNC team. “We’re at zero. I mean, obviously the building’s empty.”
Dauber is a communication professor and expert on jihadist propaganda. She was standing in an empty studio that she and Robinson had expected to fill months ago. They planned to hire students to develop videos and other approaches to undermine efforts such as ISIS recruiting on social media. They hoped the students’ ideas would resonate with people their age, who are often the recruiting targets.
The grant team had been told to expect the money in early spring. They interviewed students and had a promising group ready to hire.
“Thinking that it was coming, we wanted to be in a situation where we could just flip a switch and go,” Dauber said.
But the money didn’t arrive.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in an emailed statement that it’s unclear whether the money will be released. He declined to say why the department hasn’t sent it.
Controversial program
That reticence is one more twist in the complicated history of the grant program, which is called “Countering Violent Extremism.”
Even under Obama, the program was viewed with suspicion by many Muslims. And after Trump took office, opposition grew.
A Muslim student group at UNC started an online petition demanding that the university renounce the grant. At least four Islamic community groups that also were grant recipients did so, saying Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric meant they couldn’t be part of the program.
Meanwhile the Trump administration has proposed eliminating the entire program for other reasons.
A Reuters report shortly after Trump took office said that Homeland Security officials were thinking about retooling the program so that it focused solely on Islamic extremism, not white supremacist groups.
And in its recent budget proposal for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year the administration said it wants to eliminate the program entirely.
Congress, though, has already approved the grant program for the current fiscal year, and U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican from Greensboro, has filed a formal request with Homeland Security asking why the money hasn’t been paid.
UNC won $900,000 federal grant, but Trump administration won’t send the money
