National women-in-tech group at CU Boulder lays off staff, scrubs inclusive language under federal pressure

A prominent CU Boulder-based research center created to support women in technology is laying off staff and removing inclusive language from its materials in response to sweeping federal funding cuts and political pressure targeting diversity efforts. According to CU, the language changes are being led by the independent nonprofit that fundraises for the center.

Four employees were laid off from the National Center for Women & Information Technology at CU in March, two of them after a Department of Defense grant was canceled. Since then, the center has lost nearly $7 million more in National Science Foundation funding, and leadership told staff on May 13 to expect more layoffs soon.

Known collectively as NCWIT, the name refers to both the CU Boulder research center and the Boulder-based nonprofit. All laid-off employees were employed by the university.

The organization, founded more than two decades ago with National Science Foundation support, has begun removing the word “women” from prominent places on its website and is considering a name change to the Center for Technology Workforce Innovation, according to archived site versions and a former NCWIT employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The research center relies entirely on federal grants and private donations. Before the cuts, about one-third of its budget came from the NSF, according to CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch. Since February, it has lost nearly $10 million in federal support.

NCWIT’s nonprofit is trying to rapidly fundraise to fill the gap. The former NCWIT employee said leadership told staff they are attempting to raise $15 million. Partner nonprofits are facing similar financial threats, and rumors are circulating that corporate sponsors may pull support.

“We can’t let the progress fade away because of momentary turmoil and disappointments,” said NCWIT co-founder and Executive in Residence Lucy Sanders. “The country has to have this.” 

NCWIT is not alone. The turmoil Sanders described is part of a national trend, as universities across the country feel the impact of the Trump administration’s push to cut federal diversity programs. CU Boulder has lost at least 25 NSF grants worth nearly $21 million, according to a database compiled by researchers tracking self-reported grant cancellations. Many of the grants relate to diversity, equity or inclusion, while others cover topics such as misinformation. In a separate move, most NSF advisory committees, including the one responsible for awarding NCWIT’s funding, were shut down last month.

At NCWIT, “they are absolutely anticipating more layoffs,” according to the former employee. “Several teams were working on projects that have now had the funding completely pulled.”

Shifting mission 

Internally, the changes have caused tensions. Staff were told in March to begin replacing terms like “systemic oppression,” “anti-racism” and “marginalized identities” with more generalized phrases such as “fairness and opportunity,” according to an internal document seen by Boulder Reporting Lab. According to a former staffer, many resisted the changes, which they saw as a betrayal of the center’s founding principles.

“There were a lot of tearful ‘I don’t want to do this,’ pleas,” the former employee said. “It feels more like institutional betrayal.”

The staff list posted on NCWIT’s website includes 51 employees — 44 of whom are women or nonbinary. Many joined the organization to support work that reflected their own experiences navigating male-dominated industries, the source said.

Following a Trump administration executive order on “free speech,” federal agencies began scrubbing references to race, gender and inclusion from public-facing documents. NCWIT followed suit, removing words like “women,” “underrepresented,” “race” and “non-binary” from its digital content.

The nonprofit arm of the organization did not respond to requests for comment.

A broader setback for inclusion in tech

As of 2023, women held just 35% of STEM jobs in the U.S. — up from 8% in 1970 — and remained underrepresented at all major tech companies, according to the Women Tech Network.

Sanders, the NCWIT executive, said the impact of the federal cuts extends far beyond job losses. She said that NCWIT provides vital infrastructure for more than 1,600 member organizations nationwide, helping them build a robust computing workforce, improve national readiness in fields like AI and quantum computing and recruit people with a “wide range of diverse lived experiences.” 

“We are very well known over 20 years of being a gold standard for that kind of practice,” she said. 

One of the areas NCWIT supports is recruitment, she said, by encouraging organizations to go beyond traditional pipelines.

“Many people recruit from the pool of people that they already know, and that is certainly very valid,” she said. “But what we also want them to do is think outside of the people they already know and look for diverse talent, including first gen or rural or veterans.” 

Inside the organization, staff say morale has plummeted.

 “A lot of my colleagues are really heartbroken right now,” the former NCWIT employee said. “All of us got into this because we wanted to support a mission that would have helped us when we were trying to forge our way, and create a smoother pathway for those who will come after us.” 

Despite their disappointment in NCWIT leadership’s recent decisions, the source said they understood the motivation. “They’re doing it from a place of self-preservation.”