The Trump Administration’s cuts have left a big void in the FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion will certainly adversely affect the Tallahassee HBCU and others as the effects are beginning to reveal themselves.
This week’s big headline was Trump’s threat to take funding away from the National History Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. In Trump’s March 27 executive order, he contends that “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology.” “Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” Trump stated.
FAMU’s College of Pharmacy had for years maintained a grant for the National Institute of Health (NIH) to study unique treatments of cancer, enhanced study of AI, and several other key areas of study. The grant also provided additional staffing for the school. The sudden loss of $16.3 million dollars that was budgeted for by the university presents a critical set of issues. Donald Trump rescinded the award with his executive order on March 21.
According to an article on the FAMU College of Pharmacy Website, the program was instituted in 1985. The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI Program at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) was established in 1985 through a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) as a congressionally mandated program to support minority institutions. In 2012, the RCMI Program was transferred to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The RCMI Program had a tremendous impact on enhancing the research capacity and infrastructure at FAMU: it recruited promising researchers and established research infrastructure by acquiring advanced instrumentation, developing innovative biomedical research laboratories, funding research facilities, and providing other research support.
The sudden absence of those funds has placed a sense of urgency into FAMU’s own fundraising efforts. The announcement of the rescinding of the grants was made just days before FAMU’s annual fundraising campaign known as “1887 Strikes.” FAMU was founded in 1887. FAMU Interim President, Dr. Timothy Beard, encouraged Rattlers to dig deeper as the cut of funding will have an adverse effect on the HBCU if it is suddenly unavailable. FAMU has since appealed the decision.