Update. "A Call for Harm Reduction Strategies"
https://katinamagazine.org/content/article/open-knowledge/2025/a-call-for-harm-reduction-strategies

"The new US presidential administration has launched an unprecedented assault on research and higher education. This isn’t just collateral damage from wide-ranging realignment of budgets, which would be bad enough, but an orchestrated attack on academic freedom, research funding, and the institutional autonomy that underpins intellectual progress…Resistance is most effective when collective action amplifies individual efforts rather than occurring in isolation. This means fostering more frequent and open dialogue across all sectors of the academic and research community [e.g. #libraries and #publishers]."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Joint Statement on Federal Censorship of American History"
https://www.historians.org/news/aha-oah-joint-statement-on-federal-censorship-of-american-history/

"The American Historical Association (#AHA) and the Organization of American Historians (#OAH) condemn recent efforts to censor historical content on federal government websites, at many public museums, and across a wide swath of government resources…Policies that purge words, phrases, and content that some officials deem suspect on ideological grounds constitute a systemic campaign to distort, manipulate, and erase significant parts of the historical record. Recent directives insidiously prioritize narrow ideology over historical research, historical accuracy, and the actual experiences of Americans.

As the institution chartered by the US Congress for “the promotion of historical studies” and “in the interest of American history, and of history in America,” the American Historical Association must speak out when the nation’s leadership wreaks havoc with that history. So, too, must the OAH, as the organization committed to promoting “excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history.” It is bad enough to forget the past; it is even worse to intentionally deny the public access to what we remember, have documented, and have expended public resources to disseminate."

"To date, 11 organizations have signed on to the statement."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "#APDU [Association of Public Data Users] Statement on #Education Research and #Data"
https://apdu.org/?p=5812775

"On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, over 1,000 staff from the Department of Education [#DOE] were laid off. This includes almost all staff from the Institute of Education Sciences (#IES), which housed the National Center for Education Statistics (#NCES)…NCES is mandated by law to report on the condition of education annually, collect and disseminate key education data, and support state and local education agencies…The [layoffs] make it unclear how NCES will meet its legal obligations under the Education Sciences Reform Act, Every Student Succeeds Act, the Information Quality Act, and other federal laws…Congress and policymakers must act to ensure NCES has the resources to meet its statutory obligations. Stakeholders—including researchers, educators, and state leaders—must demand transparency on how education data will be maintained."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Survey of US #librarians and #LIS faculty.
https://coloradomesa.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9GjMQWWDpB5zDDg

"Recent weeks and months have brought shifts to the pursuit of research across the United States, including funding freezes and budget cuts, executive orders regarding DEIA (and its variants) and other justice-related topics (e.g., environmental justice)…This survey aims to gather the perspectives of academic librarians and LIS-program faculty about the implications of these shifts (and executive orders) on research initiatives and, more broadly, academic freedom, researchers' freedom of thought/speech/expression within academia, and researchers' overall intellectual freedom."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Good advice from #MichaelIgnatieff, past President of the Central European University in Budapest and Vienna (2016-2021): "How a University Fights an Authoritarian Regime. Viktor #Orbán came for me. Donald #Trump is coming for you. Here’s what to do."
https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-a-university-fights-an-authoritarian-regime
(#paywalled)

"You’re going to need an alliance that pulls together American families, employers, unions, companies, the whole network of people and institutions beyond your campus who understand that the universities of America are critical to everything that is good about the country: its commitment to freedom, its devotion to excellence, its leadership in science and medicine. This alliance is going to have to get political — to reach across red state and blue state, identify the members of Congress from both sides of the House who understand why universities matter to their communities, to the American economy, and to America’s deserved reputation for excellence. Don’t mince words. It’s too late to play nice. Call a spade a spade. Convince enough Americans that the administration’s strategy deserves only one name: vandalism."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Update. "#Trump Executive Order Targets #IMLS for Closure"
https://www.wordsandmoney.com/trump-executive-order-targets-imls-for-closure/

"In a March 14 Executive Order, President Donald Trump has targeted seven more federal agencies for permanent closure, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

If some parts of IMLS are "statutorily required" and cannot be shut down by an executive order, the #OMB has seven days to show it.

"EveryLibrary is hosting a petition [to keep IMLS open]…The American Library Association has…weighed in with a statement."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Libraries #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Scientists Say #NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub #mRNA References on Grants"
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/

"National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA #vaccine technology from their grant applications…NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli sent an email across the NIH instructing that any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines be reported up the chain to #HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate #EPA’s Scientific Research Arm"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/climate/trump-eliminates-epa-science.html

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology…The EPA’s plan… calls for dissolving the agency’s largest department, the Office of Research and Development, and purging up to 75 percent of the people who work there. The remaining staff members would be placed elsewhere within the EPA…Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA],…the top Democrat on the science committee, said that without the Office of Research and Development, the EPA would not be able to meet its legal obligation to use the “best available science” when writing regulations and considering policy. She also said that the office was created by congressional statute and that dissolving it would be illegal."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Environment #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "#DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library"
https://www.science.org/content/article/doge-order-leads-journal-cancellations-u-s-agricultural-library

"The #USDA on Friday told staff members it has canceled subscriptions carried by its National Agricultural Library as part of a drive by President Donald #Trump’s administration to cut federal spending. The move appears to drop nearly 400 of the library’s roughly 2000 journals, including many prominent in various agricultural subfields —but curiously none from the world’s three largest scientific publishers, all of which are #ForProfit. USDA staff members depicted the move as hasty, indiscriminate slashing…Studies of journal subscription fees indicate that on average, scientific #SocietyPublishers charge less than such for-profit companies."

PS: (1) Of course the best ag research should be #OpenAccess. But that's a goal, not the current reality, and while we work for that goal, policymaking agencies still need access the best research. (2) If efficiency requires budget cuts, why focus the cuts on journals from #nonprofit #publishers, which on average are lower in price and higher in quality?

#Agriculture #DefendResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Don’t wait out four hard years: speak truth to power"
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00791-z

"More scholars must push back. The idea that scientists can keep doing what they know must be done to incorporate #DEI into their work while adjusting terms to fit the demands of bigoted autocrats bent on hobbling science is to whistle loudly past a graveyard of avoidable error, continued financial cuts and censorship. That diversity matters to science is a truth — albeit one that has only recently begun to be accepted and applied…Genomics has established that different groups of people respond differently to drugs and vaccines. The individuals recruited to and participating in clinical trials must be representative of those who will use those treatments in real life…Social scientists are well aware that understanding behaviour and implementing desired change requires studying populations besides white, Western, university psychology students."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Gary Price (@infodocket) is collecting statements opposing the #Trump admin's attempt to shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS). Thanks, Gary!
https://www.infodocket.com/2025/03/17/roundup-statements-in-response-to-executive-order-impacting-the-institute-of-museum-and-library-services-imls/

#DefendResearch #Libraries #LIS #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of #Trump found"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detained

"A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration…The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Travel #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Foreign interference laws ‘no protection from #Trump edicts’"
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/foreign-interference-laws-no-protection-trump-edicts
(#paywalled)

"A memo sent to Australian collaborators in US-funded research projects seeks assurances that they and their institutions have no involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI) initiatives, “environmental justice”, “gender ideology extremism” or “any party that espouses anti-American beliefs”. It asks whether they have received any funding from China, including Confucius Institutes and “non-state actors”, along with Russia, Cuba or Iran. The 36 questions also include queries on how the projects “create measurable benefits” for the US."

#Australia #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "What’s in store for US science as funding bill averts government shutdown"
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00827-4

"The US government averted a shutdown late last week after President Donald #Trump signed into law a spending agreement that is likely to lock in modest cuts to science funding this year. But a larger crisis for science still looms as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress continue to seek massive cuts to the federal budget for 2025 and beyond."

#DefendResearch #Funding #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Researchers say the US government tried to erase sexual orientation from their findings"
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/researchers-us-government-erase-sexual-orientation-findings-120041183

"Two California researchers said Friday that a U.S. government health publication instructed them to remove data on sexual orientation from a scientific manuscript that had been accepted for publication… Instead of complying, the researchers withdrew their paper from _Public Health Reports_, the official journal of the U.S. Surgeon General and U.S. Public Health Service."

Also see the blog post by the two co-authors, Tamar Antin and Rachelle Annechino.
https://criticalpublichealth.org/blog/2025/03/21/resisting-attacks-on-science/

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "US conference boycott urged after French scientist deported"
https://archive.is/Wxwdg

"Academics say they are increasingly wary of travelling to conferences in the US after a French scientist was deported over text messages critical of Donald #Trump’s cuts to research funding … Space scientist Mark Wieczorek [@mrak], director of research at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, part of CNRS, said the situation was “very troubling” and, despite being a dual US-French citizen, he now would “only go to the US for the case of a family emergency”…Given the French scientist in question is a “permanent researcher employed by CNRS”, it is “unlikely that this person is a radicalised terrorist and it is unlikely that their hatred of Trump is greater than mine as a US citizen,” continued Wieczorek."

#DefendResearch #Travel #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. New study: "#NIH investment in drugs approved from 2010 to 2019 was not less than investment by the #pharmaceutical industry, with comparable accounting for basic and applied research, failed clinical trials, and cost of capital or discount rates."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2804378

PS: Relevant to (1) #Trump admin cutbacks to NIH #funding and (2) industry #patents and licensing terms on approved drugs.

#Medicine #Pharma

Update. "Center for Open Science (#COS) Statement on U.S. Executive Orders and the Future of Open Scholarship"
https://www.cos.io/about/news/cos-statement-on-the-future-of-open-scholarship

"Recent executive orders and shifts in U.S. federal policy pose significant concerns for the research community, including the removal of publicly available data, changes in research governance, and uncertainties around funding. While some policies claim to promote transparency, their selective application risks undermining scientific integrity. True openness must apply across all research domains —not just where it aligns with political agendas. COS remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting and promoting open scholarship. Ensuring long-term access to research data is essential to maintaining scientific integrity. Our Open Science Framework (OSF) remains a reliable resource for researchers seeking to preserve and share their work, ensuring that public knowledge remains accessible despite policy uncertainties."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #OpenInfrastructure #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "#NIH Ends Future Funding to Study the #Health Effects of #Climate Change"
https://www.propublica.org/article/nih-funding-climate-change-public-health

"The National Institutes of Health will no longer be funding work on the health effects of climate change, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica…While it’s unclear whether the climate guidance will impact active grants and lead to funding terminations, the directive appears to halt opportunities for future funding of studies or academic programs focused on the health effects of climate change."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Here are some press releases and news stories on the lawsuit against the #Trump admin by American Association of University Professors (#AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (#AFT).

* From the AAUP
https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-over-trump-policy-arresting-and-threatening-deport-students-and-faculty-lawful

* From the AFT
https://www.aft.org/press-release/faculty-unions-sue-trump-admin-no-halting-science-research-suppress-speech

* From The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/pro-palestine-student-deportation-lawsuit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

* From the NYTimes
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/professors-sue-trump.html

#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #MahmoudKhalil #Protests #Travel #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Update. "‘Breathtakingly Irresponsible’: Former Workers Decry Decimation of #Education Dept.’s #Data Warehouse"
https://www.chronicle.com/article/breathtakingly-irresponsible-former-workers-decry-decimation-of-education-dept-s-data-warehouse

"More than 160 contracts measuring educational progress across the nation’s schools and colleges were suddenly halted. Probationary workers were fired, employees were blocked from accessing information on their computers, and a national center that dates to the time of Abraham Lincoln was effectively decommissioned overnight. Employees worked late into the evenings downloading data that had taken decades to compile, according to interviews with more than a dozen people fired from the Institute of Education Sciences (#IES), an independent and nonpartisan agency within the U.S. Department of Education [#DOE], and its National Center for Education Statistics (#NCES)…IES, which had 173 employees before the cuts, was left with just over a dozen after Elon #Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency swept through the Education Department early last month. The crippling of the office was so swift and haphazard that it left serious doubts about how much of the educational data that has informed higher-education policy and practice will continue to be available."

#DefendResearch #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Global Science in Danger"
https://blog.scielo.org/en/2025/03/26/global-science-in-danger/

"Recently, the government of the United States of America (USA) has frightened the scientific community…by censoring terms used in scientific communications and funding proposals…The idea that this is just relevant to American scientists or scientists from elsewhere working in America is not correct; with researchers the world over being affected. In the Netherlands, for instance, some researchers monitoring the state of forests…have received email messages, ostensibly from the #USGS (United States Geological Survey) and labelled “High Priority”. A list of questions was attached with the request to respond with answers within a week of receiving the email. The USGS indicated that sending these messages had been ordered by the United States Office of Management and Budget (#OMB)."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The National Museum and Library Services Board (#NMLSB) just sent an open letter to #Trump's acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS), Keith Sonderling.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/006/6639-1.pdf

"It is our considered determination that the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018, as codified in Title 20 of the U.S. Code, outlines specific statutory mandates that cannot be paused, reduced, or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute…All such statutory obligations may not be discontinued or delayed under an Executive Order or other executive action."

#DefendResearch #Libraries #Museums #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. SCiMaP: View Impact of Federal Health Research Cuts
https://scienceimpacts.org/

"The National Institutes of Health (#NIH) funds crucial health research to address cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more. NIH funding also boosts the economy, returning >250% of the value invested. On Feb. 7th, 2025, the White House ordered across-the-board cuts to NIH funded research. This website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Entire staff at federal agency that funds #libraries and #museums put on leave"
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-s1-5334415/doge-institute-of-museum-and-library-services

"According to a statement from AFGE Local 3403, which represents #IMLS [Institute of Museum and Library Services] workers, the agency's staff was notified by email about being placed on paid administrative leave for 90 days after a "brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership." Employees had to turn in government property, and email accounts were disabled."

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "More than 1,900 scientists write letter in ‘SOS’ over Trump’s attacks on science"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/31/scientists-letter-trump-administration

"More than 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine [#NASEM] signed an open letter warning Americans about the “danger” of the #Trump administration’s attacks on science. The letter comes amid the administration’s relentless assault on US scientific institutions which has included threats to private universities, federal grant cancelations and ideological funding reviews, mass government layoffs, resignations and censorship."

Here is the letter itself.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gmMJOMsoNKC4U-A8rhJrzu_xhgS51PEfNMPG9Q_cmE/edit?tab=t.0

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Mass layoffs are underway at the nation’s public health agencies"
https://apnews.com/article/health-human-services-layoffs-restructuring-rfk-jr-ec4d7731695e4204970c7eab953b2289

"Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services [#HHS] Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated…The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues."

#CDC #CMS #DefendResearch #FDA #Medicine #NIH #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Patient Safety Network Abruptly Cut by Trump Administration"
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/faustfiles/114913

"The #Trump administration suddenly cut all funding for the Patient Safety Network (#PSNet) on Friday…PSNet is an influential and respected project within #HHS that has been dedicated to decreasing medical errors through research and knowledge dissemination. The endeavor has been credited with saving lives by helping change the culture by which clinicians learn from mistakes, thereby improving care."

Here's PSNet today.
https://psnet.ahrq.gov/

And here it is in the Wayback Machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250402140613/https://psnet.ahrq.gov/

#AHRQ #Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The Dept of Health and Human Services (#HHS) can no longer fulfill requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA), at least not without "exponentially" longer delays and backlogs. #RFKjr — who promised "radical transparency" — fired the staffers who handled those requests. A spokesperson said the layoffs will "streamline" the department and the work "will continue".
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/03/g-s1-57888/hhs-fda-rfk-foia-public-records

#DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #DOGE will review #NIH grant opportunities "to ensure the research that will be funded aligns with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration."
https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-officials-will-screen-nih-funding-opportunities
(#paywalled)

PS: Note that this is about content, politics, or ideology, not waste, fraud, or abuse.

"One NIH employee familiar with the matter worries that Trump officials reviewing the NOFOs [Notices of Funding Opportunities] “may not have the scientific background to understand why funding for research on certain topics is important.” Moreover, they added, “Having these decisions made by DOGE after months have been spent writing the NOFOs drafts and getting buy-in from [NIH’s institutes and centers] and offices is a huge waste of staff time and resources.”

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Scientists sue #NIH, saying politics cut their research funding"
https://apnews.com/article/nih-funding-trump-dei-research-094ed2abe5ba529cdb74f7e0b429c4f3

"A group of scientists and health groups sued the NIH on Wednesday, arguing that an “ideological purge” of research funding is illegal and threatens medical cures…The suit was filed by the American Public Health Association [#APHA], unions representing scientists and some researchers who were stripped of grants."

A similar suit has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (#CSPI), and the Protect Democracy Project (#PDP).
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/aclu-sues-national-institutes-health-ideological-purge-research-projec-rcna199360

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Leaked Memo Reveals Insane Ban on Words Agriculture Department Can Say"
https://newrepublic.com/post/193395/agriculture-department-ban-words-safe-drinking-water

"A leaked memo from the U.S. Department of #Agriculture’s Research Service division revealed Sunday that the agency has banned some key language from its vocabulary, including the words “climate” and “vulnerable,” as well as the phrase “safe drinking water.” Other baffling entries on the memo’s banned language list are “greenhouse gas emissions,” “methane emissions,” “sustainable construction,” “solar energy,” and “geothermal,” as well as “nuclear energy,” “diesel,” “affordable housing,” “prefabricated housing,” “runoff,” “microplastics,” “water pollution,” “soil pollution,” “groundwater pollution,” “sediment remediation,” “water collection,” “water treatment,” “rural water,” and “clean water,” among dozens of others."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "As #Universities Yield to #Trump, Higher Ed #Unions Are Fighting"
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/labor-unionization/2025/04/04/universities-yield-trump-higher-ed-unions-fight

"Many college and university presidents have kept silent. But unions representing higher ed employees have stepped up to the plate. They’ve protested in Washington, D.C., and on their campuses, organized open letters and filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration. Union leaders say they are filling a void in an existential fight for higher ed’s future. They wish others would join their resistance, but their unified strength in numbers may protect their members from federal retaliation in ways that higher ed officials aren’t."

#Academia #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Update. "US Weather Agency to Preserve Research Websites in Reversal"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-04/us-weather-agency-to-preserve-research-websites-in-reversal

"The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency [#NOAA] will preserve access to websites tied to its research division, after previously moving to cancel a cloud web services contract that supports many of its pages. Bloomberg News had reported earlier that the service contract for NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research — known as NOAA Research — had been set to terminate this week, jeopardizing access to most of the office’s public-facing websites. But in an emailed statement Friday, NOAA said that the sites will be preserved."

#Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever"
https://www.404media.co/nih-archives-repositories-marked-for-review-for-potential-modification
(#paywalled)

"Almost two dozen repositories of research and public #health #data supported by the #NIH are marked for “review” under the #Trump administration’s direction, and researchers and archivists say the data is at risk of being lost forever if the repositories go down. “The problem with archiving this data is that we can’t,” Lisa Chinn, Head of Research Data Services at the University of Chicago…Unlike other government datasets or web pages, downloading or otherwise archiving NIH data often requires a Data Use Agreement between a researcher institution and the agency, and those agreements are carefully administered through a disclosure risk review process."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #OpenData #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "The White House Frames the Past by Erasing Parts of It"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/technology/trump-history-websites.html

"Thousands of…govt web pages [have] been taken down or modified, including content about vaccines, hate crimes, low-income children, opioid addiction and veterans, before a court order temporarily blocked part of the sweeping erasure. A Justice Department database tracking criminal charges and convictions linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was removed. Segments of data sets are gone, some of the experts who produced them were dismissed, and many mentions of words like “Black,” “women” and “discrimination” have evaporated…“This is not a cost-cutting mechanism,” said Kenny Evans, who studies science and technology policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and runs the White House Scientists Archive at the school. 'This slide toward secrecy and lack of transparency is an erosion of democratic norms.'"

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Marks Says He Was Forced Out of #FDA for Trying to Protect #Vaccine Safety #Data"
https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/fdageneral/114998

"Shortly before he was forced to resign, the nation's top vaccine regulator says he refused to grant #HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team unrestricted access to a tightly held vaccine safety database, fearing that the information might be manipulated or even deleted."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Preservation #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Statement from the University of California Systemwide Academic Senate Council: The Defense of the University, April 8, 2025
https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/academic-council-statement-defense-of-university-april-2025.pdf

"We thus call on the Regents, President, and Chancellors of the University of California to expend every effort, commit necessary resources, and use all legal measures to defend our ability to conduct consequential, transformative research and provide high-quality teaching and mentoring. We call on our leaders to ensure the safety and privacy of students, faculty, and staff. And we further call on our leaders to protect academic freedom and faculty control of the curriculum—proactively and publicly."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #Universities
@academicchatter

Update. "Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws"
https://mississippitoday.org/2025/04/08/mississippi-libraries-ordered-to-delete-academic-research-in-response-to-state-laws/

"A state commission scrubbed academic research from a database used by #Mississippi #libraries and public #schools — a move made to comply with recent state laws changing what content can be offered in libraries. The Mississippi Library Commission ordered the deletion of two research collections that might violate state law…One of the now deleted research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies.”

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #USPol #USPolitics

Update. A statement from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (@americanacad).
https://www.amacad.org/news/board-statement-values-april-2025

"Our founders were also the founders of our nation…Current developments, in their pace, scale, and hostility toward institutions dedicated to knowledge and the pursuit of truth, have little precedent in our modern history. We oppose reckless funding cuts and restrictions that imperil the research enterprise of our universities, hospitals, and laboratories…We condemn efforts to censor our scholarly and cultural institutions, to curtail freedom of the press, and to purge inquiry or ideas that challenge prevailing policies…The Academy will continue to…work to safeguard the conditions of freedom necessary for novel discoveries, creative expression, and truth-seeking in all its forms. We join a rising chorus of organizations and individuals determined to…prevent our nation from sliding toward autocracy."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #USPol #USPolitics