“... wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
On the day following the first presidential and House of Representatives elections, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Richard Price detailing his belief that well-informed people can be trusted to choose their government and fight back when wrongs are committed. The United States was founded by men of science and enlightenment like Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin. After becoming a center for technological innovation and progress, the U.S. has benefited far more than any other nation, yet we see innovation and progress halting with recent funding cuts to research, national parks, education and nonprofits.
Recent funding cuts to USAID and the National Institutes of Health have left both UNC faculty and students scrambling for resources as seven USAID-funded research programs have been terminated. These cuts are far-reaching, impacting humanitarian work across the globe. If they continue, UNC is at risk of not only losing its status as a premier research university but also jeopardizing the futures of countless students and faculty dedicated to scientific progress.
For years, UNC has been at the forefront of global health initiatives, thanks in large part to USAID funding. In 2023, the Carolina Population Center, which conducts research on population, health, aging and the environment, was awarded $90 million in grants from USAID to implement the GH PEARL project, which aims to strengthen policies and program implementation to improve health in low and middle income countries. Projects like GH PEARL were meant to run for years, but after funding cuts, they were terminated. Now, researchers and staff are left unemployed and communities around the world that rely on these projects are abandoned.
UNC typically hosts internship opportunities over the summer that allow students from both UNC and other institutions to be mentored in research. Many of these programs are targeted to help students who have limited research experience or come from a historically underrepresented background. After threats of funding cuts from the NIH and the National Science Foundation, some summer research opportunities at UNC have been postponed or even canceled.
These cuts are not merely financial decisions; they represent a deliberate political shift away from valuing scientific inquiry. President Donald Trump’s administration has also issued executive orders that undermine values of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, further stifling scientific innovation by limiting who gets to participate in research. In many ways, these actions reflect a trend of politicizing science, where funding is dictated not by merit or necessity but by ideological biases.
Young scientists, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, are now being shut out of opportunities that could have started their careers. It especially comes as a shock and cause for concern that science programs are now being targeted when more often than not it’s the humanities that take the budgetary hits.
The UNC community cannot afford to sit idly by while years of progress are dismantled. Faculty, students and alumni must take action by advocating for research funding at both the state and federal levels. This means pressing lawmakers, voicing discontent and mobilizing for peaceful protests. Just recently, the UNC community came together with that of Duke University and N.C. State University at the Stand Up For Science protest on March 7. Despite being fierce athletic rivals, members of all three institutions joined forces to protest these cuts.
Following the words of Thomas Jefferson, things have become "so far wrong" it has attracted attention nationally. We cannot remain silent; funding cuts are not just budgetary decisions — they are an attack on knowledge, innovation and the future of our planet.
