American universities claim that vital medical research is threatened by new federal funding reductions that are up to 4 billion dollars per year announced by the Trump administration.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which pay nearly $ 50 billion per year, has released advice Saying that it will go from “indirect” support on Monday to 15%on Monday, against a current average of 27%and in some cases greater than 60%. Funding covers the administrative costs of research projects.
The NIH said that it was “essential to ensure that as many funds as possible would go to direct scientific research costs rather than general administrative costs”.
But universities argue that they count on this funding to build and maintain laboratories and cover costs. They say that the increase in tuition fees or the recruitment of additional students would be insufficient to fill the void.
The association of American medical colleges has warned that the cuts “”Reduce the country’s research capacity, slowing scientific progress and depriving patients, families and communities across the country of new treatments, diagnostics and preventive interventions. »»
Nick Dirks, president of the New York Academy of Sciences, said: “It will be devastating and will be intestinal. Without amply recovering indirect costs, universities and hospitals will not be able to manage many of their most critical research programs. »»
American universities are already faced with a temporary frost on federal funding announced by President Donald Trump, as well as a prohibition of diversity and “environmental justice”, probe on alleged anti -Semitism on the campus and the threats of a new endowment tax.
Although an executive decree to freeze all the subsidies was canceled after a legal challenge last month, universities do not know if funding will continue.
Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said: “It is useful chaos. People have been invited to stop their research, some teachers have been informed that they had to draw post-doctoral students and close their laboratories, which means that materials sensitive to time will no longer be usable. »»
Adam Bauer, a student in doctoral sciences at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign, said that he can only pay the day of pay next week if he would receive his next monthly life allowance now that his funding from the National Science Foundation Fellowship has been questioned.
His research focuses on the physics of heat waves and how they affect crops, people and demand for energy. But he fears that the subject linked to the climate, as well as his proposal to help retain scientific women in his field, put his subsidy in danger. Climate and diversity, equity and inclusion programs were targeted by the Trump administration.
“After the frost, I was in shock and our group cat became a little crazy,” he said.
“I can imagine a situation if they do an F control and they want to cancel the grant, they will find a means.”
Harold Varmus, the former chief of the Nobel Prize in the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute who is a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, said that even a few weeks of uncertainty would considerably delay meetings to plan research, examine requests grant and delay clinical trials.
“It doesn’t take long before things are really messy,” he said. “It is worrying because the money is tight and it could lead to real setbacks for science and for the public waiting to have results.”
The NIH is among the largest federal research donors in research, with the largest part of the best research universities led by Johns Hopkins and the University of California.
While some of the largest beneficiaries have other sources of research income and substantial endowments, others are more vulnerable when slowing down the students’ demands.
Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities, an alliance of the main research universities, said: “Even a temporary judgment of critical scientific research is a non-deste and uncomposed error. . . If you run the neck, withdrawing the track for any time is a gift to your competitors. “”
Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, warned that the broader threat of “government intrusion and excessive political influence” was likely to undermine “the integrity of American education and the scientific research ”.
“The freeze signals an increasing politicization of higher education,” she said.
“”[It] Risks upsetting scientific progress and hindering vital research. »»
Bauer, the Illinois student, looked for university jobs focused on private universities which can have more important than the most vulnerable resources.
“It was difficult,” he said. “The labor market is dry for climate projects because it is not clear to what extent the Trump administration is ready to leave.”
