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Federal agencies have paused funding and opened investigations into the University of Maine System after the state’s leadership refused to stop letting men compete in women’s sports in violation of federal law.
Several federal agencies have paused funding and launched investigations into the University of Maine System (UMS) following the state’s refusal to obey Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Trump’s executive order banning men from women’s sports.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is pausing some research funding to UMS. A UMS spokesperson confirmed the pause to Fox News, stating, “An email forwarded to the University of Maine that appears to have originated from the USDA’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer directs the department’s ‘awarding agencies and staff offices to temporarily no longer issue any payments or authorize any other releases of funding to Columbia University or the University of Maine System.”
According to the spokesperson, the email said that the pause is temporary and is in place while the USDA evaluates “if it should take any follow-on actions” related to possible violations of Title VI, which outlines the stringent requirements for administering finances and accreditation, or Title IX, which protects women from discrimination in education and sports.
The spokesperson says that the universities “were in compliance with relevant state and federal laws and that UMS universities are members of the NCAA” and were “unaware” of any Title IV or Title IX violations.
Complying with both federal and state law would be difficult for the university, considering that Maine law currently allows males to compete in women’s sports.
It’s a disagreement that reached its head during a meeting of governors at the White House on February 20. President Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, D, engaged in verbal sparring regarding the state’s refusal to follow his executive order banning males from women’s sports, which is in accordance with Title IX. Trump promised to cut federal funds from the state while Mills claimed she would battle Trump in court.
Following the incident, several federal departments launched investigations into Maine’s possible violations of Title IX, which requires schools and universities that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunity for males and females.
The USDA sent a letter to Mills on February 22, stating that it was beginning a “compliance review” into the University of Maine system.
In the letter the USDA claimed that the University of Maine system had received more than $100 million from the USDA “in recent years.”
The USDA also threatened that it was considering reviewing compliance of other universities in the state and that “additional funding may be in jeopardy.”
The Department of Health and Human Services on February 25 issued a notice to Mills that the state’s education department had violated Title IX by allowing males to compete in women’s sports. HHS then expanded its investigation to include the Maine Principals Association.
“HHS will investigate and enforce Title IX to the full extent permitted by law to uphold fairness, safety, dignity, and biological truth in women’s and girls’ educational athletic opportunities,” Andrew Nixon, HHS spokesman said. “Men have no place in women’s sports. Maine must comply with Title IX or risk losing federal funding.”
The U.S. Department of Education is also investigating Maine. On February 26, the Department issued a press release that stated,
“It is shameful that Governor Mills refuses to stand with women and girls. Her rejection of the antidiscrimination obligations that Maine voluntarily accepted when it agreed to receive federal taxpayer dollars is unlawful. OCR is still actively investigating Maine and one of its school administrative districts for apparent violations of federal law.”
Civil rights lawyer Sarah Perry, who has litigated Title IX issues, told Fox News Digital that Maine would not be able to win a court case regarding the funding.
“Maine entered into a contract with the Department of Education, promising to follow that federal civil rights law. [Mills’] reliance on contrary state law will prove fatal to any continued recalcitrance,” Perry argued.
Coinciding with the state’s battle with the federal government has been news of male athletes winning championships designated for females, as well as the censure of a lawmaker who spoke out about the problem.
Last month, a male won the Maine Class B State Championship in pole vaulting. State Rep. Laurel Libby posted on X that two years ago the athlete placed 5th in the boys’ pole vault.
That post led to her censure by Speaker Ryan Fecteau, which stops her from speaking or voting in the Maine House of Representatives unless she deletes the post and apologizes.
Yesterday, Libby filed a lawsuit against Fecteau seeking an injunction. Libby wrote on X,
“The Speaker’s illegitimate and unlawful censure violates the First Amendment, as well as the Equal-Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause and Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution. I am seeking an immediate injunction, to restore both my rights and those of my constituents.”
She then posted her full thoughts on her censure and the potential funding loss for Maine schools, saying,
“Instead of having an open and honest debate about the devastating impacts of Maine girls being forced to compete against biological males, Speaker Fecteau and his Democratic colleagues resorted to canceling and silencing me. Speaker Fecteau and the Democrat majority are risking hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for our schools by stubbornly refusing to address this injustice. I have the constitutional right to speak out and my constituents have the right to full representation in the Maine House. Biological males have no place in girls’ sports. Our girls have every right, under federal law, to fair competition in sports. We will not let them be erased by the Democrat majority advancing a woke progressive agenda.”
Title IX was passed to protect women and girls and to ensure that they have equal treatment, equal facilities, and equal opportunity to males.
Since it was passed in 1972, schools and universities receiving federal funding have had to give women and girls the opportunity to compete in sports and sports competitions that are confined to females only — or risk losing federal funding.
Mills claims that she is following federal law, likely due to the left’s ridiculous attempt to expand the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which only found that employers cannot discriminate based on gender identity in their hiring practices. As the Court explicitly wrote, however, the Bostock ruling is confined to employment discrimination under Title VII, not sex-segregated facilities and opportunities under Title IX.
The Biden administration also twisted the Bostock ruling as justification to rewrite the rules governing Title IX, a move that then required schools and universities to allow students to play sports and use housing and changing facilities based on their stated gender, rather than their biological sex. However, district and appellate courts across the United States blocked that effort repeatedly and the Supreme Court has refused to lift those injunctions.
In January, U.S. District Court Judge Danny C. Reeves granted summary judgment to Tennessee and other states challenging the radical new rule, concluding that “the entire Final Rule and corresponding regulations are invalid and must be set aside.”
In other words, Title IX does not apply to preferred gender identity. Full stop.
By taking federal funding, Maine and its universities agreed to obey Title IX. They cannot, as the old axiom, goes have their cake and eat it too. And they certainly cannot violate the law and expect to not pay the consequences.
These actions by the federal government are intended to force Maine to honor its commitment to protect women and girls and their rights under Title IX.
For the sake of Maine taxpayers and students, let’s hope that Gov. Mills and Maine legislators use this “pause” to remember that their oath of office is to the Constitution and the will of their constituents — not to radical gender ideology.
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