Although President Donald Trump’s administration reversed its plan this month to freeze federal funding to Maine’s public universities, the system still cannot access funds for two programs focused on supporting the maple industry and young women seeking STEM careers.
The University of Maine System has not been able to draw down federal funds for two U.S. Department of Agriculture awards since mid-February and believes the awards are “under review for alignment with the new administration’s priorities,” spokesperson Samanatha Warren said.
The funding issues echo but precede Trump’s unprecedented move this month to freeze $63 million in active USDA awards for Maine’s public universities following a dispute with Gov. Janet Mills over the state’s transgender athlete policies. It quickly reversed that decision without explanation after talks between U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and federal officials.
Warren did not immediately have dollar totals for the two USDA awards. One supports climate adaptation and mitigation training for sugarbush owners and managers. The other award is for the Sustainable Engineering Leaders of the Future, or SELF, program, which creates pathways to college and science, technology, engineering and math careers for female students from rural counties in collaboration with businesses, such as agriculture and forest products partners.
A White House spokesperson deferred to a USDA spokesperson who did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. But the funding issue comes after Trump unveiled executive orders and actions upon returning to office in January that have affected STEM and climate initiatives across the country.
The Republican president labeled diversity, equity and inclusion programs as “discriminatory,” and he has frozen billions of dollars in climate and clean energy programs.
Six federal agencies have targeted or launched investigations into Maine and its schools since Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, singled out in a viral Facebook post a transgender high school student who won a state track and field title and then Trump sparred with Mills over the state’s policies that currently allow two transgender students to compete in sports in alignment with their gender identity.
The Trump administration has made an untested legal argument that Maine is violating the landmark Title IX law banning sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. It has swiftly determined the state’s education department, the association that oversees scholastic sports and the Cumberland high school home to the student that Libby identified are violating Title IX, and it said Monday it is giving those entities 10 days to change policies or face litigation from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The whirlwind of developments continued Wednesday, when the USDA confirmed the University of Maine System is in compliance with Trump’s executive order barring transgender athletes from women’s sports but doubled down on warning that the state could lose federal funding.
Outside of Maine, the Trump administration has paused hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for Columbia University in New York by accusing it of “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students” and for the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender athlete policies.
