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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has restored funding to the University of Maine System, Sen. Susan Collins’ office said Wednesday night.
It was an abrupt reversal of the unprecedented funding freeze that was announced in a Monday notice to the public universities. President Donald Trump’s agriculture department has been investigating the system and other Maine institutions for alleged federal civil rights violations stemming from Maine’s policies allowing transgender athletes on women’s sports teams.
Collins’ office was notified shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday that the freeze had been reversed, according to Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for the Republican senator. It followed talks between Collins’ office and officials at both the USDA and the White House, Kernen said.
“We are learning as you are,” Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the university system, said in a text message late Wednesday.
