Texans Rally in Defense of Science and Against Trump Administration Cuts

By Madeline De Figueiredo

Photography By Madeline De Figueiredo

Reporting Texas

Hundreds gathered in front of the Texas Capitol for a “Stand Up to Science” rally Friday, demanding the defense of scientific integrity, expanded funding and the protection of diversity in research.

The rally, one of 32 in cities across the country, was organized in response to the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific funding, the removal of public scientific information and ongoing attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the scientific community.

“This attack on science we are witnessing is a direct attack to democratic and American ideals,” said Ben Riley, the organizer of Austin’s rally and founder of Cognitive Resonance, an organization helping people understand human cognition and generative AI. “At their core, science and democracy are about how knowledge exists in a society and who gets to decide what knowledge is. Both science and democracy say the people have that power. An attack on one is an attack on the other.”

DOGE’s mass firings have sent shockwaves through federal agencies, with the NIH losing over 1,200 employees and the NSF experiencing a 10% of its workforce. Aggressive bans on DEI policies are putting science and medicine research grants at risk and U.S. agencies have been forced to purge public data, raising alarm over access to information.

An energetic crowd, filled with people in lab coats, STEM college students and families with young children, erupted in chants of “science not silence” as they cheered for speakers.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and several University of Texas science professors took the podium to describe how recent federal government actions have harmed their research and communities.

UT faculty speakers called for the protection of scientific research personnel whose jobs have been threatened by funding cuts, emphasizing that the future of research and medicine depends on investing in today’s students.

“Cuts to (the National Institutes for Health) lead to mass firings of the most promising individuals in this country who are the future of science and healthcare,” said Andrea Gore, a UT professor of pharmacology and toxicology.

“My lab manager came to my lab 15 years ago as a junior technician. If I lost her due to a loss of NIH funding this would create an irreversible gap,” Gore said. “Projects require continuity in effort and personnel. Even this short hiatus is ruining experiments today.”

Rally attendee Morgan Johnston, a neuroscience doctoral student at UT-San Antonio, said that as she nears her dissertation defense this spring, funding cuts have left her job prospects uncertain.

“It’s supposed to be the greatest achievement of my whole life and the most exciting thing that’s happened to me, but instead I am terrified,” Johnston said.

“There are jobs that I have applied for that have said, ‘Sorry we’re not sure that we are going to have funding for this position anymore so we aren’t hiring anyone,’” Johnston said. “The job market is abysmal.”

Rally attendee Jacob Arras, a junior at UTSA applying for doctoral programs this fall, said the federal funding cuts have cast doubt on his future in scientific academia.

“In a matter of six weeks, I went from discussing my plans to publish my first paper and looking into new study abroad opportunities to suddenly wondering if I will have funding past May. Will I be able to afford paying rent? Will I be able to keep doing my research without having to take on another job?”

Doggett said urgent action is needed, highlighting the high stakes of funding cuts, censorship and the dismantling of critical DEI programs within U.S. agencies dedicated to science.

“The actions of this administration in obstructing science and insisting upon ideologically friendly actions over everything else is going to cost us lives,” Doggett said. “We don’t have any time to waste politically and we can’t accept alternative facts.”

Gore warned of the irreparable damage that has already been done.

“Even if the money gets restored now, a lot of work is going to have to start over again,” she said. “I call that governmental inefficiency.”