The #DefendResearch team, through the efforts of @petersuber , is maintaining a list of public statements supporting research & higher education against threats from the Trump administration. Please submit any that are missing. #AcademicChatter https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y5_fjGPNh4_1Hgc0Q68Hr2vJhVIOK1Qc-KynfIG6fZI/edit?tab=t.0

A new #Trump executive order defines a "gold standard" for federally-funded science.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-standard-science/

Three points for now, and more later.

1. Most of the standards (3.a.i-ix) are borrowed from #OpenScience or conventional pre-Trump science. So far, so good.

2. Implementing the new standards is left to Trump-appointed political operatives (3.c).

3. With minor exceptions, agencies must make public "the data, analyses, and conclusions" on which they make policy (4.a.i.A).

More on the 3d point. In Trump's first admin, the Environment Protection Agency (#EPA) and Dept of the Interior required that all data used in policymaking be open. That seemed to be a laudable #OpenData policy. But it meant that EPA couldn't set policy based on private medical data on the harms caused by air- and water-borne pollutants. It was a head-fake to open in order to relax policies protecting the environment. That's why I called it #OpenWashing. Point 3 above is a big step in the same direction.
https://tagteam.harvard.edu/hubs/oatp/item_search?q=#oa.epa+AND+#oa.openwashing

Note that #Project2025 (p. 439) calls for this kind of openwashing, specifically at the EPA. The new Trump EO acts on that recommendation and extends it to all federal agencies.
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

"Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/22/upshot/nsf-grants-trump-cuts.html

"The National Science Foundation [#NSF]…is awarding new grants at the slowest pace in at least 35 years. The funding decreases touch virtually every area of science — extending far beyond the diversity programs and other “woke” targets that the Trump administration says it wants to cut…Among the in-progress grants that have been terminated, those focused on education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, accounted for the vast majority of the canceled funding."

"Trump’s attack on science is growing fiercer and more indiscriminate."
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/05/21/trumps-attack-on-science-is-growing-fiercer-and-more-indiscriminate
(#paywalled)

"Actions with the stated goal of cutting costs and stamping out diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI) initiatives are taking a toll on scientific endeavour. And such actions are broadening. On May 15th it emerged that the administration had cancelled grants made to #Harvard University for research on everything from Arctic geochemistry to quantum physics…American science has long seen itself as the world’s best; today it faces its gravest moment ever."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

From @OpenBookPublish: "Defending Academic Freedom in an Age of Censorship: Why Open Access Matters More Than Ever."
https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/defending-academic-freedom-in-an-age-of-censorship-why-open-access-matters-more-than-ever/

"#OpenAccess is often perceived as a risk: can a publisher risk shifting to an OA model; can libraries have confidence that their OA investments are worthwhile or that an OA initiative is ‘sustainable’; can authors take the risk of publishing with a less well-known Diamond OA press? But in a world where old certainties are crumbling – where #censorship, platform instability and political interference pose real threats – OA offers something traditional publishing cannot: resilience. Once knowledge is openly available, it cannot easily be silenced. In this light, OA is not a gamble: it is a safeguard."

We've published two blog posts recently that reflect on the role of #OpenAccess in protecting academic research from censorship. One is by our team, the other by our author Ash Lierman.

Our team: https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/defending-academic-freedom-in-an-age-of-censorship-why-open-access-matters-more-than-ever/

Ash: https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/defending-academic-freedom-in-an-age-of-censorship-reflections-from-author-ash-lierman/

We've also signed the #DefendResearch campaign, joining nearly 5,000 signatures & more than 100 organisational signatories to publicly condemn & resist the censorship of academic research. Find out more about the campaign: https://www.defendresearch.org/

Thank you Emerald Publishing for giving Alice Meadows and me the opportunity to talk about our efforts to #DefendResearch against U.S. Government censorship. We are a small group (Catherine Mitchell, Sara Rouhi, @petersuber, and Suze Kundu) working hard to raise awareness of this critical issue and to mobilize others to join us in actions that will make change. https://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/opinion-and-blog/voices-against-censorship-defend-research-conversation-lisa-schiff-and-alice

New #OpenAccess book:

𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘐𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.
https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/159026

"[Eve] Darian-Smith highlights the intersecting global trends of rising #authoritarianism and declining #AcademicFreedom, revealing how the #UnitedStates is part of a larger pattern seen in democracies worldwide, including #Brazil, #Hungary, #Germany, #India, and the #Philippines."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Open letter from 10 former US university presidents or chancellors:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/15/trump-harvard-uva-michigan-florida-unc/

US higher education "is under attack. Because of the financial consequences from federal stop-work orders, some universities…have curtailed, or even stopped, admitting graduate and professional students. This is not a matter of cutting waste or curbing frivolous research. These cuts will translate into shortages of trained doctors and nurses who provide critical care; engineers who keep bridges, utilities and water supplies safe; and scientists who discover drugs and therapies. Federal research funding for universities is not a subsidy. Under previous administrations, it was a competitive process through which taxpayers invest in discovery and innovation. In a recent world ranking of the top 50 universities influencing patented inventions, U.S. universities held 30 of the top 50 spots and Harvard was No. 1. This research enterprise helped build the world’s most powerful economy. It is a bargain by any measure."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

54 higher-ed organizations just issued a "Call to Reforge the Historic Compact Between Higher Education and the Federal Government."
https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/Statement-Reforge-Compact-Higher-Ed-Federal-Govt-051425.pdf

"The longstanding partnership between the federal government and colleges and universities has made American higher education the envy of the world and an engine of national progress and prosperity. All Americans, whether they went to college or not, have benefited from this compact…The undersigned associations represent those colleges and universities and the communities they serve. On behalf of tens of millions of students, educators, researchers, and administrators nationwide, we oppose recent government actions that jeopardize this partnership…This balance is dangerously disrupted when billions of dollars in funding for education and competitively awarded research grants are held hostage for political reasons…Release of funds obligated to institutions should not be conditioned on which students universities admit, what kinds of academic programs they offer, and how they organize and oversee their faculty. Campuses should not be attacked for building communities that reflect their missions and the broad diversity of this country. Students and scholars should not fear deportation just for exercising their right to speak freely."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

Stand Up for Science has a great campaign--"Summer Fight for Science in America!" It's a call to bring science to the people--open labs, etc. Check it out! https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/summer-fight?source=Website #standupforscience #DefendResearch

I'm happy to announce a public list of public statements supporting research and higher education against threats from the #Trump administration. It includes projects tracking Trump admin actions on the same topics.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y5_fjGPNh4_1Hgc0Q68Hr2vJhVIOK1Qc-KynfIG6fZI/edit?tab=t.0

The list is maintained maintained by the people behind the Declaration to #DefendResearch Against US Government Censorship (including me).
https://www.defendresearch.org/

Let us know if you have new suggestions for the list.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYUnm41fWHH75OQKbvDf7OA-fK3tgZr5h5tnuBKTPZ-CUEWw/viewform

#Academia #Censorship #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

"TIB builds Dark Archive for arXiv."
https://blog.tib.eu/2025/05/14/protecting-science-tib-builds-dark-archive-for-arxiv/

"What we [German National Library of Science and Technology, or Technische Informationsbibliothek, #TIB] have implemented over the last few weeks, is to build a Dark Archive of #arXiv contents…The data are being stored, but if push comes to shove it would need some more steps to make them publicly available."

"Germany’s Plan for an Open and Independent PubMed Safety Net."
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/05/14/germanys-plan-for-an-open-and-independent-pubmed-safety-net/

"#Germany has stepped up to this challenge. On May 2, the German National Library of Medicine (#ZBMED), announced they were planning to develop an “open, reliable, and sustainable” alternative to #PubMed."

"In a Major Win for Libraries, Federal Judge Orders #IMLS to Be Restored."
https://www.wordsandmoney.com/in-a-major-win-for-libraries-federal-judge-orders-imls-to-be-restored/

"On May 13, federal judge John G. McConnell in Rhode Island issued a sweeping preliminary injunction blocking #Trump administration officials from acting on the president's March 14 executive order to dismantle the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Furthermore, the court ordered the administration to immediately takes steps to restore the agency's employees and grant funding activities."

Alondra Nelson — of the #OSTP #NelsonMemo on #OpenAccess — just resigned her positions at the National Science Foundation (#NSF) and Library of Congress (#LOC). Read her resignation letter.
https://time.com/7285045/resigning-national-science-foundation-library-congress/

"Even as the White House threatens the foundational tenets of constitutional democracy and continues to slash funding for essential social services, it is tempting to hope that the public institutions charged with promoting and protecting knowledge will, nevertheless, soldier on with their mission. I did…[But] perseverance has its limits. The erosion of these institutions’ integrity —and the growing realization that it is impossible to fulfill their missions in good faith— has made the cost of continuing untenable."

#DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@alondra

A great piece of analysis with lots of suggestions for what to do in response to the Trump administration's efforts to destroy U.S. research infrastructure. I appreciate the inclusion of the work to #DefendResearch against #censorship. https://defendresearch.org

https://doi.org/10.54900/pqrcx-8d019

Such a powerful sobering, statement and also a call to continually reflect on what we are each doing in this moment. https://time.com/7285045/resigning-national-science-foundation-library-congress/ #DefendResearch

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS) just terminated the grant for the Next Generation Library Publishing (#NGLP) project.
https://educopia.org/blog/imls-terminates-next-generation-library-publishing-pilot-to-production-grant/

"The central aim for this grant project was to expand digital #infrastructure options for #LibraryPublishing programs that are #OpenSource, community-led, and grounded in academic values. The Big Ten Academic Alliance [#BTAA] remains engaged in supporting the continued exploration and development of #Meru — the open publishing platform emerging from the NGLP initiative."