this is as good a time as any to put out my biannual PSA that my main is @whimsicalincivilities, in case anyone is confused as to why an aesthetic blog devoted to sapphic modern art and depressing kaveh akbar verses keeps liking their fandom shitposts. inside me are two wolves and they’re both Franz Kafka.
I suppose THIS is a good time to add that my url/pen name @o-wild-west-wind is a Percy Shelley reference second and a Wicked reference first…I’m sorry to anyone I duped into thinking I wasn’t a theater kid
Untangling what the Trump administration's directives and executive orders mean for federally funded science
With the current “flood the zone” agenda overwhelming our feeds, I’m sure that all this news about the NIH feels like just another drop in the bucket. I figured I'd try to write out what's going on and why it matters, since this is all HUGELY impactful, despite getting pretty buried in the news cycles (my explanation is under the cut—the article above is a helpful reference).
TL;DR: The NIH funds most medical research in the US; this medical research funding is being slowed and cut effective immediately; and we need to contact our representatives about this ASAP.
You can say that you "urge them to oppose all funding cuts and DEI-related restrictions in the NIH." Stick this onto your other phone/email/letter scripts, and feel free to add more specifics and personalization!
What happened, and why does it matter:
As of 2/8/25, the Trump administration has:
Indefinitely halted NIH study sections, which are how research gets reviewed and approved, as well as travel and communications (some of all this is just now restarting, but this has been selective/on a delay)
Planned to flag and possibly reject grant renewals and any new proposals with "DEI" and "DEI-related" terms, ranging from obvious keywords like "LGBT" and "transgender" to standard technical terms like "race, "gender," "health disparities," and "bias" (source on terms is re: the NSF, but I can confirm as an NIH funded researcher that we have similar directives)
Ended "DEI" programs in the NIH and removed multiple webpages on diversity-related grants and funding
Frozen hiring and rescinded job offers starting on 2/8/25
Capped the indirect cost funds of grants at 15%, effective immediately (from an average of 30%)
(NOTE: This is a non-comprehensive list—and while I'm an NIH-funded researcher, I'm not high up enough on the food chain to be a total authority on this. Please feel free to add more details if you know them.)
What does this all mean?
The NIH is the largest funder of health/medical research in the United States, which is usually conducted at universities and hospitals (public AND private). This includes research on everything from cancer, heart disease, dementia, addiction, depression, HIV, and the flu to—in my specific case—co-occurring conditions of autism (so basically, anything at all health related? That's probably being studied via NIH funds).
Funding includes things like:
Direct costs of supplies, tools, machinery, etc.
Research team salaries, from lead scientists to administrative staff
Fellowships (i.e. how PhD students typically get paid)
Indirect costs (utilities of lab operation, etc.)
Basically, what all these directives do is slow and/or cut health research funding. What this means is slowing "non-DEI" research funding and entirely cutting "DEI" research funding (which we don't have solid definitions for yet!).
What does this all look like?
At this rate, and if unchanged, this could likely result in:
Months-long (or longer) delays on "non-DEI" medical research (i.e. for the average population)
Unknown cuts to health disparities research (i.e. research on health differences between specific demographics of people)
A near-complete loss of "DEI" research in most US institutions (e.g. BIPOC health, LGBTQ+ health, disability health)
Fewer proposals of new/novel research ideas
Fewer PhD acceptances and hiring opportunities for new researchers (possibly shrinking an entire generation of scientists)
Mass layoffs of research staff
Breakdown of international research collaborations
Huge tuition increases for college students (including undergrads)
Closures of research institutions/universities
Privatization of research funding (possibly creating a bias towards "profitable" research interests/health conditions more common to wealthy populations)
Potential brain drain of American scientists to other countries
USA's loss of status as a scientific leader and powerhouse
For the average American, this all translates to things like:
Fewer medical breakthroughs and "weaker" medical research
Fewer medical/health experts
Increased drug/treatment costs
Lower quality of life
Stagnant (or lower) average life expectancy
(Plus economic repercussions I don't have the expertise to predict).
The US National Institutes of Health is lowering the maximum “indirect cost rate” that research institutions can charge the government, the
So what do we do about this???
I hate to sound like a broken record, but...CONTACT YOUR REPS! Call daily if possible, but send emails/letters at the very least! Use the language in the TL;DR at the top of this post if that gives you a framework.
If you want, include personal reasons as to why this will impact you, or just mention that it will slow life-saving medical research (bonus points if you tell them to block all cabinet picks until Elon is no longer interfering in the government)!
This is dire and immediate, but it isn't all doom and gloom. With enough pressure, we can (and have!) gotten things reversed.
Take care of each other, stay alive, and keep fighting back 💛
Untangling what the Trump administration's directives and executive orders mean for federally funded science
With the current “flood the zone” agenda overwhelming our feeds, I’m sure that all this news about the NIH feels like just another drop in the bucket. I figured I'd try to write out what's going on and why it matters, since this is all HUGELY impactful, despite getting pretty buried in the news cycles (my explanation is under the cut—the article above is a helpful reference).
TL;DR: The NIH funds most medical research in the US; this medical research funding is being slowed and cut effective immediately; and we need to contact our representatives about this ASAP.
You can say that you "urge them to oppose all funding cuts and DEI-related restrictions in the NIH." Stick this onto your other phone/email/letter scripts, and feel free to add more specifics and personalization!
What happened, and why does it matter:
As of 2/8/25, the Trump administration has:
Indefinitely halted NIH study sections, which are how research gets reviewed and approved, as well as travel and communications (some of all this is just now restarting, but this has been selective/on a delay)
Planned to flag and possibly reject grant renewals and any new proposals with "DEI" and "DEI-related" terms, ranging from obvious keywords like "LGBT" and "transgender" to standard technical terms like "race, "gender," "health disparities," and "bias" (source on terms is re: the NSF, but I can confirm as an NIH funded researcher that we have similar directives)
Ended "DEI" programs in the NIH and removed multiple webpages on diversity-related grants and funding
Frozen hiring and rescinded job offers starting on 2/8/25
Capped the indirect cost funds of grants at 15%, effective immediately (from an average of 30%)
(NOTE: This is a non-comprehensive list—and while I'm an NIH-funded researcher, I'm not high up enough on the food chain to be a total authority on this. Please feel free to add more details if you know them.)
What does this all mean?
The NIH is the largest funder of health/medical research in the United States, which is usually conducted at universities and hospitals (public AND private). This includes research on everything from cancer, heart disease, dementia, addiction, depression, HIV, and the flu to—in my specific case—co-occurring conditions of autism (so basically, anything at all health related? That's probably being studied via NIH funds).
Funding includes things like:
Direct costs of supplies, tools, machinery, etc.
Research team salaries, from lead scientists to administrative staff
Fellowships (i.e. how PhD students typically get paid)
Indirect costs (utilities of lab operation, etc.)
Basically, what all these directives do is slow and/or cut health research funding. What this means is slowing "non-DEI" research funding and entirely cutting "DEI" research funding (which we don't have solid definitions for yet!).
What does this all look like?
At this rate, and if unchanged, this could likely result in:
Months-long (or longer) delays on "non-DEI" medical research (i.e. for the average population)
Unknown cuts to health disparities research (i.e. research on health differences between specific demographics of people)
A near-complete loss of "DEI" research in most US institutions (e.g. BIPOC health, LGBTQ+ health, disability health)
Fewer proposals of new/novel research ideas
Fewer PhD acceptances and hiring opportunities for new researchers (possibly shrinking an entire generation of scientists)
Mass layoffs of research staff
Breakdown of international research collaborations
Huge tuition increases for college students (including undergrads)
Closures of research institutions/universities
Privatization of research funding (possibly creating a bias towards "profitable" research interests/health conditions more common to wealthy populations)
Potential brain drain of American scientists to other countries
USA's loss of status as a scientific leader and powerhouse
For the average American, this all translates to things like:
Fewer medical breakthroughs and "weaker" medical research
Fewer medical/health experts
Increased drug/treatment costs
Lower quality of life
Stagnant (or lower) average life expectancy
(Plus economic repercussions I don't have the expertise to predict).
The US National Institutes of Health is lowering the maximum “indirect cost rate” that research institutions can charge the government, the
So what do we do about this???
I hate to sound like a broken record, but...CONTACT YOUR REPS! Call daily if possible, but send emails/letters at the very least! Use the language in the TL;DR at the top of this post if that gives you a framework.
If you want, include personal reasons as to why this will impact you, or just mention that it will slow life-saving medical research (bonus points if you tell them to block all cabinet picks until Elon is no longer interfering in the government)!
This is dire and immediate, but it isn't all doom and gloom. With enough pressure, we can (and have!) gotten things reversed.
Take care of each other, stay alive, and keep fighting back 💛
For context, NIH study sections review and approve grant and fellowship funding for federally funded health and medicine research—aka, most of the health research that’s done in the United States. This includes research funds as well as salaries and funding for student researchers/pre and post docs at most US universities.
If you’re American, PLEASE contact your representatives about this. This has the potential for a devastating impact on health research not just for the US, but for the entire world. I expect we’ll have more information in the morning, but for now, I’d just urge them to do whatever they can to get this reversed ASAP.
On top of this, the NIH has just announced that they are capping indirect costs (ie the money that goes to keeping the lights on and key shared facilities from bathrooms to animal facilities to research cores) on NIH grants to 15%, and most universities have at least 30% indirect costs. This is going to potentially cripple scientific academic research and harm a lot of job prospects including mine. I am terrified.
Ohmygod i got into my top school. Ihmygod they have private funding so I’ll still get paid no matter what shit ends up going down. Ohmygodohmtgodohmyhdodd
call your representatives and say you support this. The fact that musk is actively breaking the law and violating the constitution, and trying to carry out a coup, and he still has contracts with the federal government through his companies should not be allowed.
i hope every single one of you outlives these hateful fucks on the news right now. i hope each and every one of you is able to find joy and support throughout these tumultuous times and i hope you get to live so fiercely as yourself. i hope you wake up one day to news that you’ve outlived those pieces of absolute shit and whether that brings you joy or relief or hope or what have you, i hope you live to see that day
the purpose of friends is to have people who unconditionally hate your shitty exes & relatives. like maybe YOU have a complex relationship with your father but i sure don't. i'm outside his house with a gun. he's not the unforgivable asshole who raised me he's just an unforgivable asshole
