The U.S. Department of Energy has restored three federal grants to the University of Maine that it previously suspended for several months over the state’s transgender athlete policies.
The administration of President Donald Trump restored the funding late last month, less than a week after the Bangor Daily News that reported that the grants were paused in April after the agency accused the university system of violating Title IX, the federal anti-sex discrimination law. A different federal agency had previously found the system was in compliance.
As a result, the university went months without the money as it made efforts to show the energy department that it was not in violation of the law. Officials cited the suspended grants when they laid off nine employees at a prestigious engineering center in early June. At the time of the pause, about $3.5 million remained across awards, that originally totaled $15.5 million.
“The University of Maine System and its flagship, the University of Maine, have always complied with state and federal laws and the terms and conditions of our federal contracts, and we are relieved that the federal government has yet again affirmed this,” the university system said in a Friday statement.
The system also credited U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine’s 1st District, for repeatedly pressing the energy department to restore the awards, a spokesperson said.
The Republican president’s administration has claimed that Maine schools are violating the law by allowing transgender girls to compete in athletic competitions — an interpretation of the law that legal experts say is dubious — and targeted the state with investigations and a lawsuit from the Department of Justice.
The Department of Agriculture determined in March that the system was in compliance with Title IX after launching a review earlier in the winter. The university system has no transgender athletes.
After the energy department cited Title IX when it paused the grant funds weeks later, on April 10 and 11, university officials shared a press release about the USDA’s finding. It wasn’t until after the system provided documentation from the USDA’s review that the energy department restored the grants on June 25 and June 27, according to documents obtained by the BDN.
It was unclear on Friday whether any of the scientists, engineers or lab technicians would be rehired at the engineering center now that those grants have been restored.
“While the center continues to experience federal research funding impacts and may additionally face potential future reductions, including in the reimbursement rates provided by the federal government for essential research costs, it is currently evaluating whether it can rehire any of the affected positions,” the university said in a statement.
Dozens of federal awards to the university system have been disrupted since Trump squared off with Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, over Maine’s transgender athlete policies at a February White House event.
As of late June, more than $17.2 million in existing grants had been paused or terminated, while the university had recovered $13.9 million in previously suspended funding, according to an update published online. The federal government has put millions more in new grant funding on hold, the university said last month.
Callie Ferguson is the deputy investigations editor for Maine Focus, the BDN’s investigations team. She can be reached at [email protected].
