Wisconsin academics are crying foul after grants for various controversial projects at Wisconsin-based universities were cut off.

The cuts are reportedly a part of the Trump administration’s plan to reevaluate government spending on projects in academia that are considered divisive or that push Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a pair of professors studying ‘racially restrictive housing covenants’ in Milwaukee County learned that their funding dried up after the National Endowment for Humanities told them that the project no longer aligns with funding priorities.

In another instance, a Marquette University program instructing K-12 teachers in the Milwaukee-area on ‘civics’ and the ‘untold story’ of the city of Milwaukee lost its funding after it was revealed that the program was taking teachers to the America’s Black Holocaust Museum. (RELATED: Child Care Funding Compromise Reshapes Wisconsin’s Early Childhood Policy)

While the academics heading up the latter program expressed disappointment and an intention to appeal the decision, conservatives have hailed the defunding of DEI programs as a long overdue correction against ‘woke’ policies and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

Cuts to programs centered around DEI have not just affected the humanities, as more than 1,500 grants from the National Science Foundation have been axed in the last year, totaling more than $1 billion. Analysis from the Urban Institute found that roughly 90 percent of grants where funding was pulled were related to DEI.

Cuts to DEI programs at Wisconsin universities reflect a broader trend of pushback against DEI across the country. 
In February, the Department of Education directed all public educational institutions from K-12 to universities to end racial preferences in hiring and admissions or lose their federal funding. (RELATED: Food Stamp Fraud Exposed Online as States Grapple with Cost)