In late June and July of this year, UC Davis convened an Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) on “International Approaches to Freshwater Management.” … Despite two previous UC Davis ASIs – focused on flood science and groundwater and drought management – the road to the 2025 Institute was rocky. In February 2025, Sen. Ted Cruz’s office flagged our NSF funding, along with another 3400 grants as “questionable projects that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.” For the record, we disagree that training students in water science and management is woke or in any way controversial. … Fortunately, NSF agreed and so far our project has escaped the fate of others that have been cancelled.