Rally held at UW to protest Trump’s funding cuts: ‘We’re seeing graduate programs actually freezing’
Feb 19, 2025, 8:30 AM | Updated: 5:56 pm
Photo Credit: Samuel Campbell
Higher education workers gathered Wednesday afternoon for a rally at the University of Washington to protest federal funding cutbacks ordered by the Trump administration.
The Union of Academic Student Employees, Postdocs & Researchers at the University of Washington (UAW 4121), in collaboration with Labor for Higher Education, a national coalition of unions representing higher education workers, took part in a “Hands Off Our Healthcare, Research and Jobs” rally.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal spoke at the protest, slamming President Donald Trump’s actions as “an authoritarian power grab.”
“It is the peoples’ resistance that overthrows authoritarians and dictators,” she told the crowd. “It is those of you in the street who are willing to say, ‘Not on our watch.’ Save research. Save lives.”
The group gathered outside the Genome Sciences building around noon. The protest’s organizers – UAW 4121 – estimated about 500 people were in attendance.
Arjun Kumar, a Ph.D. candidate at UW, said Trump’s directives have directly interfered with his work. He said all communication between his local team and the National Cancer Institute has been severed.
“They have important data that’s going to help unlock our new cancer treatments that they’ve already done the experiments for,” he said. “They are unable to actually communicate with us because they are not allowed to by the Department of Health and Human Services.”
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Court battle over cuts
A temporary restraining order was granted on Feb. 10 to stop the Trump administration from cutting funding for medical and public health research at universities and research institutions across the country, according to a news release from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
The restraining order comes after 21 attorneys general — including Washington State Attorney General (AG) Nick Brown — sued the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for terminating funding.
“Within only a few hours of the lawsuit filed by our coalition of more than 20 attorneys general, a federal judge paused the President’s illegal cuts to NIH,” AG Brown said in a press release. “The judge’s order preserves funding for the lifesaving and life-changing medical research happening in Washington state, and the jobs of the employees doing this vital work.”
The group, according to the AG’s Office, challenged Trump’s Feb. 7 announcement to cut “indirect cost” reimbursements at every research institution around the country to 15%.
“Washington is a leader in cutting-edge scientific research,” Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said, via the release. “If the Trump Administration’s unlawful action is allowed to go forward, it would be disastrous for the important work happening at our research institutions. I will work with our Attorney General and experts at our universities to ensure these dollars are protected from unlawful federal overreach.”
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