Harvard and science versus the Trump administration.
Yes, I'll gladly defend science on television...
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Yesterday, I had the opportunity and honor to speak with Nicolle Wallace on her MSNBC program Deadline: White House. Nicolle’s producers reached out in the middle of the day asking if I would come on the air to speak about the Trump administration’s attack on Harvard and, more broadly, the nation’s science and medical infrastructure.
The news peg was that my university had just sued the Trump administration over its latest audacity—an attempt to ban international students from enrolling here. (Insane, I know.) That move was the latest in a series of Trump administration attacks on our highly productive and innovative researchers, including the sudden terminations of hundreds of federal grants last week. (If you want more information about the principled lawsuit that Harvard filed today after the Trump administration attempted to ban international students, you can read the complaint here. A temporary restraining order has already been granted, thankfully.)
Now, I generally enjoy doing television appearances because it gives me the opportunity to think very carefully about what I believe and how to best convey that to millions of people succinctly. But I also cannot (and do not) speak for Harvard and, I was to be on the air as a voice “from here,” arguing why we should all support scientific research, and oppose deep, draconian cuts that will stifle important progress. So, I’ll admit feeling that a lot was on the line here. Acknowledging to myself that this appearance felt somewhat weightier than usual, I gratefully accepted the invitation.
I’m very glad I did. Nicolle asked me to outline the stakes, not just for Harvard, but for all Americans (and people everywhere) who benefit from the incredible medical and scientific breakthroughs achieved here in the United States. She also gave me the wonderful chance to highlight some recent and inspiring success stories from the American biomedical science community. Even though I was ostensibly supposed to be talking about Harvard, I consciously chose to highlight Nobel Laureates from other institutions (the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkeley) in order to remind everyone that this is not really about Harvard. Rather, it’s about the unique excellence of American science, a fabulously successful system that draws its strength from precisely what the Trump administration is now attacking: federally-funded research; developing the careers of our own scientists; attracting and collaborating with scientists from around the world.
This is so worth fighting for, and I’m grateful that I had the chance to convey why this all matters to everyday people.
Here’s what I said…
There’s much more to say on this and, as per Nicolle’s offer, I do hope to return to the airwaves to describe more of the research that has been affected by the Trump administration’s shortsighted, DOGE-driven cuts that threaten to end a century of American dominance in biomedical and scientific research.
If there are particular grants that you think warrant highlighting, please let me know. Here’s Grant Watch’s latest summary of terminated grants since President Trump took office.
Open tabs: NIH grant terminations, NSF grant terminations.
Oh…One more open tab: Harvard Derangement Syndrome, an essay in The New York Times by Steven Pinker. Among other things, I wish I’d thought to write this:
…if you’re still skeptical that universities are worth supporting, consider these questions: Do you think that the number of children who die every year from cancer is just about right? Are you content with your current chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease? Do you feel our current understanding of which government policies are effective and which ones are wasteful is perfect? Are you happy with the way the climate is going, given our current energy technology? In his manifesto for progress, “The Beginning of Infinity,” the physicist David Deutsch wrote, “Everything that is not forbidden by laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge.” To cripple the institutions that acquire and transmit knowledge is a tragic blunder and a crime against future generations.
—Professor Steven Pinker.
Amen to that.
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My admiration for you and your work simply cannot be said enough. I cannot fathom years of this however I know that brilliant people are doing all they can to protect our nation.
Thank you for stepping up and speaking out on these issues. Here in North Carolina, we are trying to encourage faculty to speak up -- and university administrators to speak up. Our Research I universities are suffering, as are our international students. Letting a few premier private universities shoulder the burden of explaning how devastating the Trump regime's bullying and chainsaw destruction of research and academic freedom is deeply unfair.