NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
(Credit: Paul Frangipane)
Professor Monica Trujillo (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
PSC President James Davis (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
Ron Gross, NYSUT Second Vice President (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
PSC President James Davis and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander joined researchers from CUNY and SUNY and academic union leaders today outside of the Trump Building in the Financial District to oppose the defunding of research and the Trump Administration’s ideological suppression of scientific and academic inquiry.
We gathered in front of the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street to call out the Republican members of New York’s congressional delegation for budget bills that would cut billions from U.S. research agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and other research-funding agencies. The Trump administration has already terminated thousands of grants that address diversity, equity, and inclusion, or study vaccines, climate change, gender, or other areas of inquiry that the Trump administration is working to suppress.
More than two thousand CUNY and SUNY researchers and allies have signed a letter calling on New York’s Congressional Delegation to defend federal research funding for CUNY & SUNY. The letter to the delegation argues that every dollar invested in NIH-funded scientific research generates $2.56 in economic activity. In New York state alone, this amounts to $8.27 billion in economic activity and 30,522 jobs! A new study by economists has estimated that a 25% cut to science funding would lead to a 3.8% decline in GDP, similar to that seen in the Great Recession.
“Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ budget will make working class New Yorkers sicker, jobless, and more vulnerable,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “Slashing billions of dollars in research funding throws universities across the country and here in New York into chaos while decimating many researchers’ livelihoods, student training and life-saving research. New York City must prepare for these cuts’ real and dangerous impact on millions of New Yorkers; as I called for before, the Adams Administration must add $1 billion the City’s general reserve fund to blunt the impact of these cuts and another approximately $1 billion against broader economic uncertainties to safeguard the fiscal health and future of our City. ”
“Nearly two years ago, I announced that Queens College was awarded $1 million – in partnership with Queensborough and LaGuardia Community Colleges – to help prepare students for careers in wastewater epidemiology, an emerging technology that can provide an early warning and insight into future pandemics,” said U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens). “Now, that funding has been cut. Slashing initiatives like these and money for many other programs is devastating to the crucial scientific research that provides huge public health and economic benefits to New York and the nation, as well as preparing our next generation of researchers and scientists. Cuts to these types of projects are reckless and will inflict enormous harm. We must stand up for the vital research that our city and state need and deserve.”
Dr. Kathleen M. Cumiskey spoke at the event. She is a professor of Psychology at the College of Staten Island and a constituent of Rep. Malliotakis. Dr. Cumiskey’s $700,000 NSF grant funding research to support student engagement and retention was terminated in May.
“Congress must safeguard funding for research and for public institutions like CUNY, vital for social mobility and innovation in underrepresented communities. Our reps here in New York must stop cuts to the NSF, NIH and other grant funders,” said CUNY Professor Kathleen M. Cumiskey. Her project using micro credentials to promote academic success had already shown remarkable results when it was defunded, achieving an 83% pass rate, improved GPAs, and higher retention rates for students across all backgrounds.
Cumiskey’s is one of more than 70 federal grants for CUNY researchers that have already been cut, putting $17 million and 100 jobs at risk. SUNY has lost $50 million due to arbitrary grant terminations, and more are expected. Yet, these are only a fraction of the thousands of grants affected nationwide.
Usurping Congress’s power of the purse, the White House has terminated more than 1,600 NSF grants and 2685 NIH grants. Many more have been cut at the NEH, National Endowment for the Arts, and other agencies. Research that has not been defunded is being delayed and undermined by mass DOGE firings. Grant approvals and processing have slowed to a near standstill. Now the Republicans in Congress may vote to gut the agencies’ budgets.
Lawsuits opposing some of the research funding cuts have been successful, but the researchers and unions said that they cannot count only on the courts. They called for political leadership:
“New York researchers have been turned into political collateral and they need our Congressional leaders to step up and fight back. The Trump White House will stop at nothing to suppress any research that may challenge their ideological agenda, but the cuts to CUNY not only impact researchers, but New York City and the nation as a whole,” said PSC President James Davis. “This includes research into the spread of COVID, exploring new drugs to combat infectious disease and even environmental protections. Trump and his enablers have been clear they care more about politics than sound policy but we’re talking about saving lives and keeping jobs at CUNY and New York City. This Independence Day, it’s time for our Congressional delegation to do something heroic and stand up for academic researchers doing the work to support students and strengthen the future of New York.”
“SUNY researchers conduct wide-ranging studies in health care, energy, technology and the climate, among so many other important fields of inquiry. The medical research our members do to address afflictions such as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease saves lives and changes lives. The massive cuts to research funding proposed in the Republican administration’s budget bill are disastrous and a direct attack on this important research and the science behind it. These cuts are irresponsible, shortsighted and will have long-lasting and catastrophic consequences in the U.S. and worldwide. We urge New York’s Congressional Delegation to stand up for New Yorkers and defend federal research funding for CUNY and SUNY,” said Fred Kowal, President of United University Professions/SUNY.
“The previous cuts in health and science research funding and those additional cuts proposed in the Trump budget bill will further damage CUNY’s capacity to contribute the cutting-edge research that has helped New York to confront threats to health like HIV, Covid-19, and Alzheimer’s disease. Other cuts in the proposed federal budget will harm CUNY students’ and their families’ abilities to support themselves and continue their college education and damage our university’s role in training the health care workforce the city depends on. That’s why every CUNY faculty, staff, student, and alumni should let our elected officials know we want them to turn down these damaging reductions,” said Nicholas Freudenberg, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, CUNY School of Public Health.
Check out video from the event below:
