Protesters rally in Manhattan to demand an end to Trump administration cuts in science, research, education, and other fields on April 8, 2025.Spencer Platt/Getty
Last week, a small group of protesters gathered on the steps of the flagship New York Public Library in Manhattan’s Bryant Park to “Kill the Cuts”—and stand against President Donald Trump’s crackdown on science.
That crackdown, as my colleagues and I have previously reported, has been severe. In less than four months in office, the Trump administration has removed all mention of “DEI,” or diversity, equity, and inclusion, from federal websites; fired hundreds of federal workers at agencies that support research, like the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation; and limited support for universities’ “indirect costs,” which fund things like lab supplies and day-to-day operations.
In March, in a move critics saw as an attack on academic freedom, the Trump administration cut $400 million in funding to Columbia University, ostensibly in retaliation for what federal officials called its failure to address antisemitism on campus. (In a similar move, on Monday, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University after it rejected sweeping demands for federal involvement in university affairs, including data on hiring and admissions and the elimination of all DEI programs.)
Sam Seidman, a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, was among the researchers impacted by Trump’s cuts. Seidman joined Columbia in September to study youth depression and suicide, and help develop strategies to treat it.
While Harvard opted to defy the Trump administration, Columbia largely caved to its demands, agreeing to oversight of its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department and banning face coverings, among other concessions.
Seidman, who is Jewish, saw Columbia’s move as an abandonment of academic values. “Universities have been structured along the lines of a private business,” Seidman told Mother Jones at last week’s protest. “So when they see their bottom line being threatened, the mission goes out the window.”
“They don’t really care about academic freedoms or research,” Seidman added. “But we do. We got into this field not because we wanted to make a lot of money, not because we sought great acclaim. We did it because we believe in the mission.”
Watch our interview with Seidman here:
