Dear Colleagues,

in the nearly three months since Donald Trump became President, the attacks on higher education, on scientific and medical research, and on immigrants keep on coming.   Scientists and university researchers rallied in Washington D.C. and other cities in late February to protest the changes being made to the National Institutes of Health.  In March, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) along with many other Unions filed lawsuits against the Trump Administration to try and stop some of the attacks on institutes of higher education and the plans to abolish the federal Dept. of Education.  And the courts keep finding legal problems with many of the things that the Trump Administration is trying to do.

There are upcoming events that are an opportunity for people to show that they are upset by what is happening and to remind the politicians in Washington D.C. to keep their hands off our public schools and universities, to keep their hands off our social security and to keep their hands off our union contracts.

This weekend, on Saturday April 5, multiple demonstrations will be taking place in locations across the United States to protest the actions being taken by the federal administration. There are events being planned across the Massachusetts Southcoast, in Dartmouth, in Tiverton and elsewhere.  These are just a few of the hundreds of places where peaceful protests will be happening.  Click here to find an event near you.

On Tuesday April 8th there will be another national day of action, Kill the Cuts, to raise awareness of how Trump’s attacks on NIH, NSF and the Department of Education jeopardize medical progress while threatening the jobs of researcher across the country, what dismantling the federal Dept. of Education would mean to local schools and communities, and what’s at stake from the current attacks on higher education.  For more information go to killthecuts.org.

Next week, Thursday April 10 is Advocacy Day at the State House on Beacon Hill. As in previous years, this will be a chance for us to remind our state legislators of the need for increased funding for public higher education, improving college affordability and students’ success, as well as the importance of recruiting and retaining highly qualified faculty and staff.  This is an opportunity to remind the legislators in the self-proclaimed “Education State”, that with everything happening at the federal level, they are going to have to step-up and find ways to minimize the damage that will occur.  Please see the attached flier.

In Solidarity!