Stand Up For Science 2025 is a national day of action calling for robust, interference-free scientific research and policies that ensure science serves everyone. On Friday, March 7th, 2025, in Washington, DC, state capitals, and cities around the country, people will gather to advocate for continued government support for science, defend against censorship, and push back on attacks against diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in research and education.
Stand Up for Science is officially supporting rallies in Washington DC and 31 other cities around the country. This means that a confirmed site leader—backed by our core team—is actively organizing a public event with SUFS volunteers.
If your city isn’t listed as a site of an official SUFS rally, you can still make your voice heard by joining the nationwide campus and workplace walkout at 12:00 PM local time on March 7th or adding your local event below.
How to Participate in a Walkout:
🚪 Walk out of your lab, classroom, or office at 12:00 noon.
👥 Gather with others in a visible location—campus quads, courtyards, or administrative buildings can be great options.
📢 Amplify your message. Bring a sign and consider inviting faculty, researchers, or students to briefly speak about why science matters. A megaphone or simple printed statements can make a big impact!
📸 Spread awareness. Post photos, videos, and key messages using #StandUpForScience to show solidarity nationwide.
Where I live, North Carolina will be particularly hard hit by cuts to science, given the large amount of tech and research in the Triangle: Duke University alone is facing a nearly $200 million annual reduction in National Institute of Health funding for research in critical areas including cancer, Alzheimer’s, infectious diseases, and pediatric health.
Here’s news from Nature that states, “As US federal grants remain frozen and budget cuts loom, anxiety and fear grip early-career researchers.”
This week as Texas is reeling from a preventable measles outbreak, the head of Health and Human Services (HHS) doesn’t believe in vaccines. The Texas Tribune reports, “Texas is facing its worst measles outbreak in decades, as cases have jumped from two to 146 in just one month. A child is dead, 20 more are hospitalized and the worst is likely still ahead, public health experts say, as Texas’ decreasing vaccination rates leave swaths of the state exposed to the most contagious virus humans currently face.” At the same time, HHS is shutting down vaccine support including for Covid and the flu according to The New Republic.
I’m capturing messages from distressed scientists posting on LinkedIn from many federal agency, university, and not-for-profit scientists. Prior to Trump 2.0, most of the posts that I read focused on job promoting and never was heard a discouraging word. Now that has drastically changed as scientists are losing their jobs, struggling to speak up, and possibly losing their careers. I’m shocked to hear from a colleague at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) who shared the five stages of grief which everyone in the agency is experiencing! NRC was an independent commission - an arm of Congress - until recently. See this article from a former NRC Chair.
We can look at any agency to see the turmoil being caused to our civil society and civil servants whose primary job is to protect public health, safety, and the environment. So what happens when they totally get rid of or gut Department of Education, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, EPA, NOAA, National Science Foundation, DOI, USAID, etc?
Here’s a blog that I wrote after the first march for science in 2017 showing the motivations by many scientists and positive results coming from that event.
Please share this announcement widely!