Just three months into Donald Trump’s second presidential term, the outlook for science and higher education is grim. This administration has taken extraordinary steps to devastate universities: halting science funding, attempting to revoke universities’ tax-exempt status, micromanaging university affairs, revoking students’ visas, detaining students for constitutionally-protected speech and dismantling the Department of Education. The leaders of this administration have said publicly and privately that their goal is to fundamentally change universities in their own political image.
But there is still hope. Each of us within the Northeastern community has power. We must use it.
To President Joseph E. Aoun: You have power — and plenty of it. Under your command, you have a powerful private institution with one common cause: to defend and advance the university’s values and its stated academic mission.
So, defend this university. Do it publicly and emphatically. Neither silence nor capitulation will save our institution.
Declare to the public and to our fellow universities that you steadfastly oppose any incursions on academic freedom, on the welfare of our students or on life-saving research. You recently added your signature to those of approximately 500 college and university presidents committing to defend academic freedom. This was a good first step. Please do more.
Commit to keeping our community informed. The university’s current solution on this front is to make semi-regular posts, some more informative than others, on an FAQ website. This is insufficient. We need direct communication to the entire community, with detailed analysis of government incursions on our university and clear plans as to how you and your leadership team will protect our community and preserve Northeastern’s legacy.
Defend the university vigorously in court. Prepare our defenses today, and follow Harvard University’s lead in legal resistance. Join the mutual academic defense compact, recently adopted by the faculty senate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to share with our fellow universities legal and strategic resources. Do not wait until Northeastern is the last university standing.
These are principled steps that Northeastern’s leadership can take now. But Northeastern is more than its president and senior officials.
To Northeastern’s communications team: You also have power. You are the public-facing front of the university, the division best positioned to present the university’s case in the court of public opinion. This is critical, as our best hope for overcoming the existential threats to science and education is to exert continuous pressure on the administration by an informed public.
Reading Northeastern Global News from the past three months, one might assume that the university’s scientific breakthroughs are happening in a vacuum — that scientific discovery is flowing onward as normal.
It is not. As a postdoctoral researcher, I have seen my colleagues’ congressionally-approved science funding suddenly revoked without proper process or explanation. I have seen the gears of the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health, grind to a halt. I have seen clinical trials abruptly end, leaving patients in life-threatening situations. And I have seen universities, caught in the swirl of financial uncertainty, block the admission of entire cohorts of graduate students — suppressing our nation’s future science leaders. The public deserves to know the disruptions Northeastern’s scientists are facing.
Inform the public that this administration is defunding research on cancer and disease. They are ceding our nation’s role as the global leader in science and education. They are imperiling the next generation of scientists. Inform the public that Northeastern is an economic engine that benefits the entire commonwealth and that cutting science funding could trigger a recession.
To members of the faculty senate: You have power. You deserve credit for using it, having recently passed multiple resolutions aimed at protecting academic freedom.
To faculty, staff and students: You have power. Many of you are already exercising your power, sometimes publicly and others privately. If you feel safe doing so, march for science and higher education. There should be plenty of events and marches to join this summer, details of which you can find on Bluesky — check out Stand Up for Science — or X.
Organize with your classmates and colleagues at Northeastern and at universities across the globe. Cast a wide net. In the coming months and years, we should expect federally-provided resources for science and education to dwindle. Collectively, we can share resources to ensure that the flow of scientific discovery continues and, crucially, that young scientists and scholars have ample training opportunities.
Students, you have a special role to play as you return to your home communities this summer. Make an effort to inform these communities about the ongoing threats to science your university is facing. Write an opinion letter to your local newspaper promoting the public benefits of universities and the vital role they play for the advancement of science. Entertain your friends and family with stories of your personal scientific achievements, and call your representatives in Congress.
The landscape of science and higher education has changed drastically in just three months. When the fall semester begins, that landscape may be unrecognizable. To continue Northeastern’s legacy, protect the institutions that uphold democracy and safeguard the well-being of our students and colleagues, each of us within the Northeastern community must use whatever power we have — in whatever way we can.
Philip Deming is a postdoctoral fellow of psychology. He can be reached at p.deming@northeastern.edu.
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