Thousands Rally to “Stand Up for Science”

Thousands of people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, Friday afternoon to protest federal suppression of science, including workforce and funding cuts at science agencies. More crowds gathered in 31 other cities across the country for the nationwide Stand Up for Science rally.

The Washington event featured lawmakers and scientists from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations. Volunteers at the rally estimated a turnout of around 5,000.

The organizers of Stand Up for Science outlined three policy goals in response to changes made by President Donald Trump: end censorship and political interference in science; secure and expand scientific funding; and defend diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in science. Their demands include restoring federal research funding to fiscal year 2024 levels, committing to a 20% increase in federal scientific funding over the next three years, and rehiring all unlawfully terminated scientists and administrators at federal agencies.

Colette Delawalla, one of the main organizers of Friday’s protest, said the lists of keywords being flagged in grant proposals, including “women” and “female,” was the “tipping point” for her in inspiring the protest.

“That’s sample description. And so… is nobody allowed to describe their sample? I don’t understand. And of course, it was a very long list of words, and there were other words on there that were just ridiculous,” Delawalla said. “It became clear to me that this was a tactic to shut down the scientific enterprise in the United States.”

Speakers at the rally criticized recent changes at NIH, including capping indirect cost rates at 15% and freezing clinical trials for medical treatments. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also pointed to layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation, saying they put American lives and the country’s competitive edge at risk, respectively.

Van Hollen noted that federal judges have paused the indirect cost rate change and ruled that the NSF layoffs are illegal.

“But we shouldn’t have to rely on judges alone. We need to make sure that Congress does its job… which is why what’s happening here is so important, and happening at other places around the country is so important,” Van Hollen said. “Because every member of Congress needs to recognize that they have an obligation to stand up for science, to stand up for their constituents.”

Francis Collins, who served as director of NIH from 2009 to 2021, said government agency efficiency has room for improvement but that the dismantling of funding, workforce, and DEI programs is the wrong approach.

“During my 12 years as NIH director, we talked about those almost every day, and the search should continue. But interventions need to be made with full understanding of the whole ecosystem,” he said. “When the decisions will potentially disrupt an institution with a stunningly positive track record and affect the future health of the nation, let’s go with: First, do no harm.”

Former Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) was the only Republican lawmaker to speak at the event. Upton spoke of previous bipartisan support for funding NIH, including the goal of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to double the agency’s funding from 1998 to 2003 and Upton’s own 21st Century Cures Act, which was enacted in 2016 with strong support from both parties.

“We relied on the leadership on both sides to get it done,” Upton said, listing Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and others as examples. “Diseases don’t impact just Republicans or Democrats. It impacts all of us.”

In particular, Upton pointed to the bill’s provisions that added $45 billion for health research at NIH and the Food and Drug Administration along with incentives for young researchers to stay at these agencies.

Speaking to the scientists at the rally, Upton said, “We cannot afford to let you go and lose the opportunity for cures that impact all of us across the Earth. … If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) said there are “many members of Congress, including a lot of Republicans, who are keeping their heads down, who really believe in science,” sparking a mix of cheers and boos from the crowd, with one person shouting, “Where are they?”

Foster said science advocates need to give Republicans “some spine… in order to actually stand up for what they know is right, because they do.” He encouraged those with friends in Republican districts to schedule in-person meetings with their representatives in their home states.

Delawalla said the March 7 rallies are the start of a larger campaign, though the Stand Up for Science organizers are still figuring out how to make an impact with legislators.

“We don’t anticipate that our policy goals are going to be met on March 8, right?” Delawalla said. “We want to continue having these congressional meetings, putting pressure on elected officials to pay attention to science, putting pressure on elected officials to walk back some of these executive orders that have been enacted that are really, really impacting the scientific institution of America.”

The organizers received guidance from the team that organized the March for Science in 2017, which estimated that 100,000 people attended their main march in Washington and over a million attended auxiliary marches around the world.

“They had the foresight to understand that what was coming down the line was bad… but they didn’t have a crystal ball. They didn’t know what exactly was coming down the line and what would be bad about it,” Delawalla said. “The mission has been given to us by way of these executive orders. … We can all agree that we need federal support for science and that this is unacceptable.”