The Trump administration has pulled millions of dollars of research funding from the University of Maine, weeks after the president publicly clashed with state Governor Janet Mills over the banning of transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
In an email received by the college from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency’s chief financial officer ordered all payments paused while the department “evaluates if it should take any follow-on actions” related to possible civil rights violations at the school, according to Reuters.
The university said in a press release that it had received $30 million in USDA funding in fiscal year 2024.
It comes following a now-viral exchange between Trump and Mills during a meeting with governors at the White House last month. The president threatened the Democrat over compliance with his executive order banning transgender women and girls from women’s sports or risk losing federal funding.
“Are you not going to comply with it?” Trump asked Mills, to which she replied: “I’m complying with state and federal laws.”
“We are federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it. You better do it, because you’re not going to get federal funding … Your population doesn’t want men in women’s sports.”
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.
“Good. I’ll see you in court. I’ll look forward to that. That should be a real easy one,” Trump said. “And enjoy your life after, governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
A day after the confrontation, the USDA announced an investigation into whether the University of Maine was violating federal law prohibiting sex discrimination.
The school said that it had provided responses to USDA confirming its athletic programs were in compliance with state and federal law, as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's policy barring varsity athletes assigned male at birth from competing in women's sports.
According to the university, the USDA funding supports 4-H, a social and educational youth program; training to help farmers manage pests; and research to ensure the sustainability of Maine's lobster industry, among other programs.
The Independent has reached out to the USDA, the University of Maine and Mills’ office for comment.
Trump previously signed an executive order to end “the dangerous and unfair participation of men in women’s sports” by directing federal law enforcement agencies to take “immediate action” against schools and associations that “deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms,” according to a summary from the White House.
During a signing ceremony surrounded by young girls, Trump claimed that the “radical left” has “waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology.”
The Independent’s Alex Woodward contributed reporting to this article.
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