New Jersey
NJ college faculty protest cuts to science research funding by Trump administration
5-minute read
A chill went through Lauren Madden, a professor at The College of New Jersey, as she read an email several weeks ago from the National Science Foundation.
Madden, the recipient of a $3 million, six-year federal research grant, had never seen an email quite like this from the foundation — a key pillar of American scientific research.
It said that from now on, any research funded through the agency must adhere to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order barring federal spending that supports diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI.
On top of that, the National institutes of Health — the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world —announced cuts last month that could amount to more than $4 billion a year.
In a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, the agency said that $9 billion of the $35 billion that the National Institutes of Health granted for research in 2024 “was used for administrative overhead, what is known as ‘indirect costs.’”
So the NIH lowered the maximum indirect cost rate research institutions can charge the government to 15%, which it said was still more than what many major foundations allow.
On Friday, about 200 faculty and students from New Jersey universities protested against these moves at a “Stand Up for Science” rally in Trenton, part of a nationwide grass roots protest by scientists, graduate students and researchers who depend on federal funding.
The protesters — who included faculty from Rutgers University, The College of New Jersey and Princeton University, as well as members of the American Association of University Professors — hold federal grants to research everything from infertility in women to genetics, drug manufacture to cancer research.
“Facts not fear!” and “Out of the lab and into the streets,” they chanted.
The Trump administration’s executive orders were already having a real impact, said protester Tara Matise, a scientist and head of the genetics department at Rutgers-New Brunswick.
Some faculty in the Rutgers genetics department are not receiving any communications from their usually responsive National Institutes of Health program officers about the status of their projects, Matise said. “Usually, they keep in touch with you, and now boom, you just don’t hear from them.”
Grant opportunities and decades-long research with any connection to diversity have been scrubbed from the websites of the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Grant approvals indefinitely delayed
Grant approvals have been indefinitely delayed since Jan 20. This leaves professors and doctoral students who depend on grant funding in limbo and unable to plan, Matise said.
“We can’t do research without grants. Universities don’t give us money for our research — grants do,” Matise said.
The funding freezes at the National Institutes of Health are affecting Matise directly. One of her grants that supports about half of her lab’s research and staff was supposed to be renewed. But the meeting for that renewal was cancelled. The grant money runs out in July.
“Once that happens I have to start reconsidering employees and scaling back my research,” Matise said.
On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked the National Institutes of Health policy to cut funding to universities for research grants. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.
And even with the judge’s ruling, “they seem to keep finding loopholes,” Matise said of the agency.
Trump moves hurting Rutgers research efforts
Rutgers received $560.1 million in federal funding for research in the 2024 fiscal year, the university said. It has created a webpage to provide the Rutgers community information and guidance, and is monitoring the situation, said Dory Devlin, spokesperson for the university.
The Trump administration’s initiatives are hurting research at Rutgers, outgoing university president Jonathan Holloway acknowledged in a university-wide email sent Friday. He noted that National Institutes of Health councils are still not meeting, which impedes the funding of new grants.
Also, “the federal government has modified or terminated several active research awards at Rutgers, and the university continues to closely monitor the activities at federal funding agencies,” Holloway wrote. “Our Government Relations and Office for Research teams are calling for attention to these issues with our elected officials.”
One of those grants up for review is a $1.5 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant studying how women’s bodies produce egg cells, conducted by Karen Schindler, a professor of genetics and infertility research. The review meeting for her grant has not been scheduled, she said.
Money for doctoral students’ work is being terminated
Fellowships that pay for doctoral students are also being abruptly terminated. Annika Barber, a molecular bioscientist with two National Institutes of Health grants, learned that a fellowship funding her doctoral student was terminated without notice in the last month.
“He’s a fourth-year doctoral student,” Barber said. “He had some exciting new aims, and this grant would have funded the end of his graduate training and his transition to post-doctoral studies.”
“Our guidance for faculty with grants is to continue spending grant dollars to pursue research aims, to continue to apply for new grants, and to share communications and questions regarding federal funding through channels set up to gather information,” Devlin, the Rutgers spokesperson, said in a statement.
The January email the National Science Foundation sent to The College of New Jersey’s Madden and other researchers had them scrambling to remove words from their grant proposals that could be flagged for cancellation because they might be interpreted to promote diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
Madden’s grant, which is geared toward teaching science in elementary classes, also funds fellowships for 24 public school teachers in New Jersey. It initially focused on teaching environmental sustainability and social justice. It is welcoming its first cohort of teachers on March 21, she said.
Their fellowships are paid for, she said, but now she was worried about whether her grant funding will be released for the remaining years.
“We opted for funding to come one year at a time,” instead of in a lump sum, she said. “But that was during normal times, and these are not normal times,” she added.
Cuts at NOAA have climate scientists feeling targeted
The Trump administration move to lay off workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has left climate science researchers feeling targeted. Madden was worried about losing support for her fellows. A colleague advised her to change focus.
“The grant’s focus changed from environmental sustainability to STEM education,” Madden said. It was a “slight change,” she said, “but if it helps me support more teachers, I will.”
There is no official list of research grant terms that could raise red flags for the Trump administration, but a press release last week from the office of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, flagging 3400 NSF grants for further scrutiny — including those which use words such as “gender” which is a critical differentiator in scientific studies of men and women — has left Madden and other scientists even more alarmed.
“At least 54 of the grants that were flagged for scrutiny by Cruz’s office related to cancer research, and had terms relating to gender and race,” she said. Its common sense that breast cancer and prostrate cancer could not be studied if you did not include gender, she said.
“Among the terms that were searched for in the list Ted Cruz created were ‘special needs,’ ‘equity,’” Madden said. “My grant focuses on environmental and social justice, and I am concerned it will fall under additional scrutiny.”
“Never before has the future been so unclear,” said Matise, the Rutgers genetics professor.
“All medicine, drugs, discoveries — why some drugs work for some and not for other people — all this depends on our research,” she said.
“That is where the public will eventually feel the effects,” Matise said. “It’s completely unheard of what kind of words can or cannot be used in science. It’s never happened before in science.
“It makes people fearful about getting in trouble for using the wrong word,” she said. “And these are words that are standard, that we speak every day.”
The United States and Israel announced a major military assault against Iran Saturday morning, sending shockwaves through the Middle East. The massive aerial attack killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Trump says “heavy and pinpoint bombing” of Iran will continue for as long as necessary.
The strikes sparked demonstrations in Philadelphia and across the country. Reaction from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey lawmakers to Operation Epic Fury was swift.
Pennsylvania lawmakers react
CBS News Philadelphia was at an event Saturday night at Villanova University with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
While the governor didn’t have time to take our questions, he said in a statement:
“In going to war with Iran, the President has not adequately explained why this war is urgent now, what this military campaign may look like, or what the strategic objective is.”
Both Pennsylvania senators expressed views of support for the strike.
Republican Dave McCormick released a statement, writing: “They (Iran) are the world’s number one sponsor of terror. The president has given the ayatollahs a chance for a deal, and they have rejected a path to peace and prosperity.”
Democrat John Fetterman posted on social media: “President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region.”
Delaware senator shares concern
Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware is concerned the move by the Trump administration further destabilizes the region.
“I’m hopeful that this phase of war will come to a quick conclusion,” Coons said over a Zoom interview with CBS News Philadelphia. “I’m alarmed President Trump launched a full spectrum war against Iran with our ally Israel without meaningfully consulting the American people.”
New Jersey lawmakers split on strikes
New Jersey Senator Andy Kim, a democrat, called the attack an appalling action by the president.
“He literally called this a war and said American lives could be lost and to be able to do this with justification, no congressional authorization, and most importantly American people don’t want this.”
South Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew arguing the attack removed a critical threat to national security:
“What we are witnessing now is a decisive response to years of aggression. The leadership of the world’s largest state sponsor of terror has been dealt a powerful blow. We killed one of the most evil men in the world….”
U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Chester County, said in a post on X that although “Iran is a very bad actor on the world stage … the American people have not been given any evidence of an appreciable change, and Congress did not authorize any action.”
“President Trump, who promised no wars, is now again putting the lives of our men and women in uniform in grave danger all while trampling all over the Constitution,” she said.
“Trump promised Americans no new wars,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, said in a post on X. “Every word out of his damn mouth is a lie.”
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Delaware County, said in a post on X that Trump has “done nothing” to prove that the military action will make Americans safer.
“The people of Iran deserve peace and democracy, but the United States must support these goals without plunging our nation into another endless war,” Scanlon said.
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, joined Kim in calling for a vote on the War Powers Resolution “to stop Trump’s reckless warmongering.”
“After claiming last June he ‘completely and totally obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program, President Trump launched yet another illegal, ill-conceived attack on Iran,” Evans said in a statement. “These escalations only put American lives, at home and abroad, at greater risk and drag our country towards another endless war.”
In a post on X, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Montgomery County, called the military operation in Iran the result of “the erratic decision-making of an irrational President.”
“Americans do not want war,” Dean said. “Americans do not want to send their sons and daughters into foreign conflict. Americans do not want to live in fear of an ever-escalating, volatile situation.”
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., lambasted the military action as “a reckless new war of choice with no clear strategy and no clear end point.”
“This is not how a democracy goes to war,” Coons said. “Less than five years after the end of the longest war in American history, the United States is once again staring down another open-ended conflict with a hostile country in the Middle East that could cost the lives of many American service members.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., said in a statement that Trump’s “reckless actions demonstrate a troubling lack of clear foreign policy strategy” and also called for a vote on the War Powers Resolution.
“He has inched us closer to war on a whim and the last thing we need is another open-ended war in the Middle East,” she said. “Escalation without a clear strategy risks putting Americans in harm’s way and sets a dangerous precedent, signaling to adversaries like China and Russia that there are no consequences to aggression.”
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said in a post on X that he is praying for “our brave troops and our steadfast allies who stand with us during this challenging and noble mission.”
“The president has given the ayatollahs a chance for a deal, and they have rejected a path to peace and prosperity,” McCormick said.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined Republicans in praising the operations.
“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region. God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel,” he said in a post on X.
Pennsylvania Treasurer and GOP gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity said in a post on X that she “will always stand with the brave men and women of our military who serve with strength, discipline, and honor to protect our nation.”
This story may be updated.
WHYY News reporter Phil Davis contributed to this story.
U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, said in a statement on Facebook that she has been briefed about the incident and her office is monitoring the situation.
Pazmino said her organization is calling on members of the community to come together.
“Brown and Black immigrant communities and nonimmigrant communities are welcome, and should be uniting against this force,” she said.
She is also calling on local officials to assist relatives of those taken into custody.
“We need to support families affected by these kidnappings, with mutual aid, donations and anything else you think will help each other,” Pazmino said.
A woman identified as Andrea, while holding her 1-year-old daughter, Genesis, tearfully spoke in Spanish about the anguish she feels and her fears about the future without her husband Christian, one of the men taken into custody. A friend, who translated her word into English, said Christian was a good and honest man.
“If he used to see a neighbor carrying something heavy, he would run to help them. If a friend needed a favor, he didn’t ask, he just did it,” she said.
She said “his daughter was his whole world. He would wake up to her and give her kisses every morning. He would play with her after a long day at work. He loved us and protected us. He didn’t do anything wrong, so why was he taken?”
The Rev. Erich Kussman, St. Bartholomew’s pastor, said the entire Lutheran Church stands with the family.
“Anything you need, you can come to us. I want you to know that. I will stand with you, and we will do what we can to protect you, because that’s the call of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.
“Standing with ICE is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ, hands down,” he added. “Fifty-one times the scriptures tell us to welcome the immigrant and foreigner as one of our own. If you’re not living true to that gospel, the words of Christ himself, you are not a Christian, no matter what you claim to be.”
With immigration enforcement activity on the rise in New Jersey, lawmakers have proposed several bills to expand protections for immigrant communities. One measure called the “Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act” would allow individuals to file a lawsuit against ICE agents who violate their constitutional rights.
Another proposed bill would require any business that operates a private prison or detention facility in the state to pay a tax equal to 50% of the taxpayer’s gross receipts derived from the operation of the facility during the previous year. The bill also stipulates all revenues generated would go to an “immigration protection fund.”
Recently proposed legislation would prohibit ICE agents from ever holding a public job in the Garden State, and New Jersey U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim are proposing legislation to prevent new funding for the Department of Homeland Security from being used to purchase a warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey.
Requests for comment from ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service were not immediately returned.
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