The Trump administration has terminated a nearly $190,000 federal grant to Cal State Bakersfield that had funded a site-based program introducing teachers to the migration and farm labor history of the San Joaquin Valley.
A letter the acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities sent April 2 to a university budget official said the grant “no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities” following President Donald Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order telling the agency to eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions.
“NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda,” the letter states. Acting Chairman Michael McDonald noted the agency may conduct an audit of the university’s activities under the grant.
The university declined to comment, referring questions to a spokesman for the California State University system who, in turn, did not answer a list of questions including what the grant was for, when it was granted or how much money was involved.
Spokesman Jason Maymon did say in an email statement Friday the CSU system has been notified of NEH grant cancellations.
“We are reviewing the details as they become available and assessing the potential impact,” he wrote.
The grant was the second of its kind intended to increase national awareness of the region’s history and its cultural landmarks. The sites included The Forty Acres in Delano, birthplace of the United Farm Workers labor union, and the National Chavez Center in Keene, which is designed to preserve the legacy of civil rights leader César Chávez, a co-founder of the UFW.
Several dozen kindergarten through 12th grade teachers from around the valley and the country participated in grant-funded workshops and guided tours that also took them to the Sunset Labor Camp near Weedpatch and Allensworth State Historical Park in Earlimart.
One of the teachers who helped run the program, Bakersfield College history professor and former CSUB lecturer Oliver Rosales, said the grant was virtually identical to a successful grant funded during the first Trump administration and totaling about the same dollar amount. He noted that implementation of the first grant was delayed by the pandemic.
The National Endowment for the Humanities was established in 1965 to support research education preservation and public programs in the humanities. Besides giving grants to colleges and universities, it has funded programs benefiting museums, archives and public television.
