Texas A&M’s Sponsored Research Services distributed a memo to researchers Monday updating them on the impact of several executive orders signed by President Donald Trump and a memo from his administration freezing federal funding initiatives. On Tuesday afternoon, a federal judge blocked the freeze from going into effect until Feb. 2.

“In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” the Trump administration’s memo reads.

According to university guidance released online, Sponsored Research Services, or SRS, the group that provides research administration services across the A&M System, A&M researchers have been instructed to stop work on certain Department of State and Department of Transportation research contracts to comply with the orders. 

“If a research project is impacted by a stop work order, all work must cease, which includes spending, project planning, implementation, travel, and all other activities,” the memo reads. 

The funding freeze does not impact individual scholarships or programs, including Federal Pell Grants. 

SRS also noted that both the Department of Energy and NASA have suspended new awards, no-cost extensions and funding actions and opportunities. Both agencies are hopeful the delays are minimal, the memo reads. The National Institute of Health, or NIH, had not issued guidance or notified SRS of any changes due to a communication pause ordered by Trump. 

“The newly issued [executive order] ordered the cancellation of meetings, including study sections, a freeze on hiring, and a pause of communications until February 1, 2025,” the memo reads. “The pause on communications is a challenge for universities with NIH funding.”

A Tuesday afternoon announcement from President Mark A. Welsh III distributed to staff and faculty addressed the directives, saying several agencies have provided A&M with compliance guidance. 

“We expect individual agencies to continue providing guidance related to our work with that particular agency and will keep this information updated,” Welsh wrote. 

Welsh encouraged staff and faculty to message Michael Hardy, A&M’s deputy chief government relations officer and director of federal relations, if any units or programs are directly impacted. 

The funding freeze was blocked minutes before it was originally scheduled to go into effect: 5 p.m. today, Tuesday. It has faced backlash across the political spectrum due to its long-reaching effects, and legal scholars have questioned the order’s constitutionality. Several lawsuits have been filed to block its implementation, including one from a coalition of nonprofit organizations. 

“From pausing research on cures for childhood cancer to halting housing and food assistance, shuttering domestic violence and homeless shelters, and closing suicide hotlines, the impact of even a short pause in funding could be devastating and cost lives,” Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, wrote in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “This order must be halted immediately before such avoidable harm is done.”

Once implemented on Monday, the funding freeze will last until the Trump administration can determine whether specific funding initiatives are “consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the federal memo reads.