On March 4, the Trump Administration canceled a grant that would have allowed an international professor to help teach at Western Michigan University.
The grant was a part of the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program, which is run by the State Department.
In an email to the WMU Climate Change Working Group, which was awarded the grant, the State Department said the cancellation was due to "a shift in U.S. government priorities."
WMU Professor Allen Webb is a member of the climate group. He said the abrupt cancellation was a surprise, and showed the Trump Administration's bias against climate research.
“This grant addressing the climate is something that the Trump administration has been trying to eliminate,” Webb said.
"I can't think of anything more foolish than that really because the climate crisis is coming at us like a freight train."
Through the program, climate change and economics professor Javier Becerril of the Autonomous University of Yucatán in Southern Mexico would have been brought to Western for two semesters, starting in the fall.
"During that time, he was going to work very closely with some professors in the Climate Change Working Group, joined in their teaching and research," Webb said
In addition to helping WMU, Becerril would have also collaborated with local groups like the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition and the Ardea Youth Climate Coalition.
Webb said Becerril would have provided a unique perspective on climate change research and its global impacts.
"This cancellation is a loss for our students, for students across Kalamazoo County, and for the whole community. I think that we would have benefited greatly from having a scholar from the Global South with the wisdom and background and experience of Dr. Becerril," He said.
"His collaborations with us would have opened all kinds of opportunities for ways of thinking about the crisis and for actually taking action and for collaborating with with the country nearest to us
Webb added that this international exchange and cooperation is vital to climate research.
“We have to collaborate. We share this precious planet which is endangered, and we can't just go it alone or try to be exceptional to everybody else,” He said.
"We have to figure out how we collaborate to protect this planet and to hand off an environment to live in that is suitable for the next generation."
Webb added that WMU legal council is working to determine what possible recourse could be taken.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
