EXCLUSIVE: How Transportation Secretary Will Help Trump Defund Woke Universities

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to revamp the agency’s university grant program after axing requirements that the schools fund diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental initiatives, The Daily Signal can first report.

Duffy plans to announce $33 million in grants to universities to “unleash American innovation.” This comes after the Department of Transportation in May terminated $54 million in University Transportation Centers grants to seven universities that funded climate change initiatives and DEI policies.

“Under President Trump, we are focused on enhancing safety and unleashing American innovation,” Duffy said. “Gone are the days of funding Green New Scam and woke DEI initiatives that waste taxpayer dollars. Instead, we are investing in automated vehicles, artificial intelligence and new ways for people to work safely with machines—technology that will define the future of transportation.”

Schools which had their grants terminated for prioritizing DEI include University of California Davis, City College of New York, University of Southern California, New York University, San Jose State, University of New Orleans, and Johns Hopkins University.

UC Davis received $12 million for “accelerating equitable decarbonization” research. University of New Orleans was given $6 million for “equitable transit-oriented communities [and] how neighborhood stabilization efforts support environmental justice” research. The DOT gave USC $9 million for research on how “the transportation system creates and perpetuates inequities.” 

San Jose University won roughly $6 million for research on “intermodal inequities, particularly how improvements to auto travel can benefit higher income, often white drivers, while depressing transit ridership potential and depriving it of revenues necessary to provide comprehensive services to lower income, often BIPOC people and research into using crowdsourcing and collaborative planning to address safety concerns of women and gender non-conforming people using public transportation.”

The revamped grant program will focus on discovering new ways to increase safety on American transportation, including through automated vehicles and driving systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital infrastructure, and human-machine interface technologies.  

The University Transportation Centers program began in 1988 to encourage two- and four-year colleges and universities to improve America’s transportation system by prioritizing safety and infrastructure durability.

Grants are competitively selected based on the quality of proposed research projects, planned education and workforce-development activities, and potential for moving technologies into practice.

Schools can use their grants for transportation-related curriculum development, student support, and continuing education programs.  

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