The first four weeks of the second Trump Administration have included numerous actions with significant potential consequences for sociologists in the DCSS community. Although we are not in a position to track all of the developments in real time, here are some important news items and links to resources that may be useful. If you have additional suggestions or comments on these resources, please send an e-mail to the address at the bottom of the page.

News

NIH order on indirect costs (News, Feb. 7) "NIH plans to slash support for indirect research costs, sending shockwaves through science" STAT "The National Institutes of Health, the nation’s premier funder of biomedical research, announced Friday night that it will immediately slash support for 'indirect costs' paid to universities, medical centers, and other research grant recipients, funding that the nation’s science enterprise relies on for basic operating costs. ... Going forward, the rate of support will now be 15% for new and existing grants." (Text of the NIH order) "Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates" Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-06. (Feb. 7) "APLU Statement on Cuts to Reimbursement of NIH Facilities & Administrative Costs" (Resource) "NIH In Your State" United For Medical Research. "Select a state on the map to see the impact of NIH funding across America."

(Derek Lowe opinion blog in Science) [Feb. 6] "The Continuing NIH/NSF Crisis, Part II" [Feb. 5] "Revised and Extended: What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF" (News report, Jan. 30) “EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders” Additional news articles available on ScienceInsider   

(News article, Feb. 7) "NIH scraps program to diversify the biomedical workforce, a longtime goal of science" STAT "Grant reviewers told to set aside applications from marginalized Ph.D. students."

NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders “This page provides information regarding recent executive orders and their impact on the U.S. National Science Foundation community. This page is being updated often; please check back regularly for information.” (The page has been updated extensively, with the addition of an FAQ section, as of February 7.) See also, "Here are the words putting science in the crosshairs of Trump’s orders," The Washington Post (February 4, 2025) [Partial PDF version here]

Inside Higher Ed "Ed Department: DEI Violates Civil Rights Law" (Feb. 15) "The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights declared all race-conscious student programming, resources and financial aid illegal over the weekend and threatened to investigate and rescind federal funding for any institution that does not comply within 14 days." (Original "Dear Colleague" letter available here. [PDF])

NPR “Census Bureau Director Robert Santos is resigning, making way for Trump's pick” (January 30, 2025) “The director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Robert Santos, announced Thursday he is resigning, giving President Trump an early opportunity to nominate a new political appointee to lead the agency.”

The Association of Public Data Users issued a statement on February 1, 2025, that begins, in part "...on January 31, 2025, the administration began removing crucial data from public, federal government websites, including the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System–information that is used to address critical issues like teen suicide–and content related to sexual orientation and gender identity. ... Removing access to taxpayer funded public data from the public domain is unethical and contrary to the principle that these data are for the public and public good. It also sets a dangerous precedent that any administration could withhold public data for any reason." (ASA President Adia Harvey Wingfield issued a similar warning on the same date.)

CDC "Forbidden Terms" regarding gender: (Feb. 1) The independent news outlet Inside Medicine reports that "the CDC has instructed its scientists to retract or pause the publication of any research manuscript being considered by any medical or scientific journal, not merely its own internal periodicals. ... The move aims to ensure that no 'forbidden terms' appear in the work. ... CDC researchers were instructed to remove references to or mentions of a list of forbidden terms: 'Gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female,' according to an email sent to CDC employees.” (Feb. 4) Opinion: "Medical journal editors must resist CDC order and anti-gender ideology" BMJ "Publication ethics and professional standards define the work of medical journals, editors, and researchers. These are safeguards of best scientific practice and integrity—and will not yield to bad practice like gag orders, suppression, and authoritarian whims." (Related, Feb. 5) "Joint Letter Objecting to Censorship in New White House Executive Order on Gender Identity" Letter Signed by More Than 50 Organizations Representing Authors, Publishers, Booksellers, Librarians and Advocacy Nonprofits.

Resources

The White House website “Presidential Actions” includes executive orders

COGR 2025 Administration Transition Information & Resources. "Located in the District of Columbia,  COGR is an association of research universities, affiliated medical centers, and independent research institutes."

Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions. Just Security is "an online forum for the rigorous analysis of security, democracy, foreign policy, and rights."

ProPublica “Trump Administration: The 45th and 47th President and His Administration.” News and investigations about President Donald Trump and his administration, his business interests and the impact of his policies as the 45th and 47th President of the United States. ProPublica “is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force.”

The Economic Policy Institute “Federal Policy Watch”: Tracking how the Trump administration, Congress, and the courts are affecting workers' quality of life. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) “is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank working for the last 30 years to counter rising inequality, low wages and weak benefits for working people, slower economic growth, unacceptable employment conditions, and a widening racial wage gap.” The State of Working America Data Library "provides researchers, media, and the public with easily accessible, up-to-date, and comprehensive historical data on the American labor force. It is compiled from Economic Policy Institute analysis of government data sources."

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine “is a service that allows people to visit archived versions of Web sites. Visitors to the Wayback Machine can type in a URL, select a date range, and then begin surfing on an archived version of the Web.” This service may provide access to archived versions of government or other Web pages that have been revised as a result of Administration actions.

Data Rescue Project. "The Data Rescue Project is a coordinated effort among a group of data organizations, including IASSIST, RDAP, and members of the Data Curation Network. Our goal is to serve as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts and data access points for public US governmental data that are currently at risk. We want to know what is happening in the community so that we can coordinate focus. Efforts include: data gathering, data curation and cleaning, data cataloging, and providing sustained access and distribution of data assets."