Florida is one state supporting President Donald Trump's efforts to ensure educational institutions take steps to prevent on-campus antisemitism and refrain from implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The Trump administration has withheld federal funding from some universities for failing to change their policies regarding anti-Israel protests and DEI.
Although Florida colleges this year have seen more than 90 federal grants terminated, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis supports Trump's efforts, Politico reported.
In fact, the governor has used the state's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to audit university research projects and even recommend grants for termination.
"The Trump administration is working hard to get some of the rot out of higher education, the intellectual rot, the ideological rot," DeSantis said last month at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
In at least one case, Florida's DOGE team recommended a U.S. National Science Foundation grant for cancellation at the University of West Florida. The grant went toward scholarships for teachers completing projects on water quality sampling methods and aspirin synthesis, according to school officials.
"I think what the Trump administration is doing on both K-12 and higher education is trying to hold the line for sanity and restoring sanity to our education system," DeSantis said.
CNN reported Friday that the Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, which became the latest institution to face a freezing of federal funds over alleged civil rights violations.
A proposed agreement sent to the school requires UCLA to pay the federal government over multiple installments, reported the network which obtained a draft of the plan.
After targeting private universities such as Columbia and Harvard, the administration has suspended nearly $600 million in federal grants to UCLA, which became the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration.
Officials at the University of Florida, which lost $35 million via more than 70 federal grants, in May noted that researchers face "significant disruption and uncertainty" due to the loss of federal funds.
UF signed an agreement with faculty allowing teachers to attach an addendum to their performance reviews explaining how funding loss has affected research, which evaluators are supposed to consider.
Politico reported the school also is helping graduate research assistants land funding to "continue their degree pursuits."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.