Following thesecond inauguration ofDonald Trump asPresident of the United States, and the creation of theDepartment of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on January 20, 2025, several major changes occurred across the United States, includingchanges to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and to theUniversity of Oklahoma (OU), located inNorman, Oklahoma.
On February 27, theOffice of Personnel Management (OPM) abruptly terminated around 880 employees, over 7.3% of the total staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Before the terminations, NOAA had approximately 12,000 employees that included 6,773 scientists and engineers.[1][2][3][4] These firings included federal researchers and dual-role OU-federal researchers at theNational Weather Center, including students in the OU School of Meteorology.[5] Shortly after the firings,William Alsup,Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled that the OPM "had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees".[1]
Following the terminations,protests broke out across the United States, included at the OU campus. On March 7 and on May 2, protests occurred outside of theNational Weather Center.[6][7]
On March 3,The Verge &Axios reported leaked information from DOGE saying, NOAA was planning to terminate the building lease for theRadar Operations Center's building at theUniversity of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport.[8][9] On March 5, M. Scott Carter, the chief political reporter forThe Oklahoman, falsely reported "theNational Weather Center is among many Oklahoma offices that have been included on a Department of Government Efficiency list of federal buildings to be closed".[10] On March 17,ABC News, reporting from the word of an anonymous NOAA spokesperson, stated theStorm Prediction Center (SPC), located inNational Weather Center, was set to be closed by DOGE.[11][12]
On May 3, one day after the second protest at OU, the Department of Government Efficiency announced that it had terminated a $300,519 grant for OU from theNational Science Foundation that was for "collaborative research" for the "understanding [of] the evolution of political campaign advertisements over the last century". DOGE announced it saved the United States government $124,466.78 by terminating the grant.[12][13]
In March 2025, the United States’Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a seven-page proposed budget for NOAA in 2026. The proposed budget was proposed to cut 27.28% of NOAA's budget in order to "eliminate functions of the Department that are misaligned with the President's agenda and the expressed will of the American people".[14] TheOffice of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) had a 73.86% budget cut proposed, which would "eliminate all funding for climate, weather, and ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes. It also does not fund Regional Climate Data and Information, Climate Competitive Research, Sea Grant (College and Aquaculture), or the National Oceanographic Partnership Program.[14] This includes the complete defunding of theNational Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and theCooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), both located at theNational Weather Center on theUniversity of Oklahoma campus.[14]
In April 2025,the United States government terminated the visas of over 1,000 international students, particularly pro-Hamas/pro-Palestine supporting international students and academics, for possible deportation.[15][16][17][18][19] Several OU student visas were among those terminated, however, OU never released how many were terminated.[20][21] On April 25, theDepartment of Justice announced theU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "is working on a new system regarding international students studying in the U.S. and, until the system is issued, no students will have their student visas revoked".[22]
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