About 250 people marched at UC Santa Barbara on Friday to protest federal funding cuts to agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
The local demonstration was part of a national series of protests happening Friday to stand up for science and scientific research.
The UCSB protest was organized by Women in Science and Engineering, Researchers Against War and UAW Local 4811, the union for academic workers at UC.
Toshi Parmar, an international graduate student in the Physics Department, told the crowd that she grew up dreaming of coming to the United States to study science.
“I always wanted to come here and study. I looked up to NASA, CDC, NIH, NSF, and now all of these institutions propped up over decades of work are now being broken down because of corrupt ideology,” Parmar said. “I cannot stand here and take it and not say anything.”
Parmar said the NIH, which directly generates 50,000 jobs in California, is at risk of losing $13.55 billion in federal funding.
“Science is a public good, and as such, it should be funded by the government,” Parmar said.
Denise Montell, a faculty member from UCSB’s Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department, said the NIH is in chaos.
“People are being fired all the way from the top, the director, to post docs who have lost access to their data and have been sent home with no salary,” Montell said.
She said grant review panels are being canceled, awarded grants are being rescinded, and funding cuts could lead to the university being unable to pay graduate and postdoctoral workers in a matter of weeks.
Montell encouraged the crowd to reach out to local legislators and demand that they don’t support federal cuts to universities and scientific research institutions.
“We also have to act at the national level,” Montell said. “We can’t stop at the state of California. We don’t want our country to fall to the despots who are breaking the law left and right.”
Karen Szumlinski, a professor in the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department, spoke out against potential federal cuts to the Department of Education.
“We need the money in these schools so that everyone can get the education that they need to succeed as engineers, to succeed as mathematicians, to succeed as scientists,” Szumlinski said. “If we start gutting down from the littlest kids in kindergarten, we are kissing all of the progress that this country has made completely away.”
She also opposed job and funding cuts at the NIH Alzheimer’s Research Center.
“I would like to ask the federal government how the heck they expect for all of us to try to come up with new ideas and treatments for this crisis,” Szumlinski said.
Following the rally on the university’s chemistry lawn, the crowd marched throughout campus.
During the march, they repeated numerous chants, including, “Elon, Elon you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side,” “money for cancer, money for health, not for bombs or fighter jets,” and “we need women, we need pride, scientists refuse to hide.”
After the march, organizers asked the crowd to sign letters to local senators and representatives, asking them to oppose funding cuts for science, research and universities.
