Tag: Maine

  • Funding Freeze on University of Maine System Lifted

    Funding Freeze on University of Maine System Lifted

    Senator Susan Collins of Maine said the pause on federal agriculture funding for her state’s public colleges and universities has been lifted, WMTW reported Wednesday.

    The Department of Agriculture froze all spending Tuesday as part of an investigation into the institutions’ compliance with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. USDA launched the investigation shortly after a heated exchange between Maine’s Democratic governor and President Trump in late February.

    The state’s flagship institution, the University of Maine, requested clarification Wednesday on the status of USDA’s Title IX compliance review and the extent of the pause. Collins also consulted the Trump administration about the freeze. Relief followed quickly after.

    “This USDA funding is critically important not only to the University of Maine but to our farmers and loggers,” Collins said in a statement. “Now that funding has been restored, the work that the university does in partnership with the many people and communities who depend on these programs can continue.”

    The system has nearly $63 million in active grants from the Agriculture Department and is expecting $35 million to be paid out for ongoing statewide education, research and extension activities, a system spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed.

    “Since our flagship’s founding as Maine’s land grant 160 years ago, funding from USDA has enabled us to strengthen and grow the state’s natural resource economy, sustain rural jobs and communities, and support hands-on 4-H youth development opportunities,” system chancellor Dannel Malloy and University of Maine president Joan Ferrini-Mundy said in a joint statement. “The University of Maine System was thrilled to learn from Senator Collins that the USDA has agreed to lift its plan to temporarily pause our federal funding, which has been an unnecessary distraction from our essential education, research and extension activities that benefit Maine and well beyond.”

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  • USDA restores funding to University of Maine System

    USDA restores funding to University of Maine System

    In a quick reversal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has restored funding to the University of Maine System after pausing it on Monday. 

    On Wednesday evening, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, announced that USDA funding for UMS programs had resumed after she had consulted with the Trump administration. 

    “This USDA funding is critically important not only to the University of Maine, but to our farmers and loggers, as well as to the many people who work in Maine’s agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry industries,” Collins said in a statement.  

    UMS leaders learned of the funding restoration from Collins. System Chancellor Dannel Malloy and University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said in a joint statement late Wednesday that the shutoff was an “unnecessary distraction from our essential education, research and extension activities.”

    Altogether, UMS has $63 million in active USDA grants — most of which goes to the flagship University of Maine campus in Orono, the system said. Of that, about $35 million is left to be paid out. The funding helps finance a wide array of programs, including agricultural research, the youth agricultural engagement program 4-H, and plant and tick disease testing. 

    The funding freeze came weeks after a tense public exchange between President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat. Trump threatened Mills on Feb. 21 with pulling all federal funding to the state if it did not comply with his executive order barring transgender women from K-12 and college sports teams aligning with their gender identity. 

    The day after the exchange, USDA announced a compliance review of the University of Maine under Title IX, which bars sex-based discrimination at federally funded education institutions. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also announced a civil rights investigation into the state on Feb. 21, finding just four days later that its education department had violated Title IX. 

    UMS said it heard nothing from USDA between Feb. 26 and March 10, when the system learned via a forwarded email that USDA had temporarily cut off all funding. 

    UMS maintains that it is “fully compliant” with all state and federal laws as well as with updated NCAA rules. The college sports association changed its rules to adhere to Trump’s executive order the day after it was signed. 

    “At no point since USDA announced its Title IX compliance review on Feb. 22 has that Department, or any other party, alleged any violation by Maine’s public universities of Title IX or any other federal or state law,” UMS said in a release Wednesday.

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