Transportation Secretary Cancels $54 Million in University Grants Tied to DEI, Climate Agenda

Sean Duffy says the grants pushed ‘radical DEI and green agenda’ instead of focusing on taxpayers’ transport needs.

Transportation secretary Sean Duffy speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington on April 9, 2025. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Friday announced the termination of seven federally funded university research grants totaling $54 million, saying the programs are wasteful and ideologically divisive projects that fall outside the scope of the Department of Transportation’s core mission.

“The previous administration turned the Department of Transportation into the Department of Woke,” Duffy said in a May 2 statement. “I’ve focused the Department on what matters; safety, making travel great again, and building big, beautiful infrastructure projects.”