On April 8, 2025, the Labor for Higher Education Union hosted the Kill the Cuts. This protest was to bring attention to the federal funding cuts that are being made and their impact on scientific research. During an interview with Shun Kobayashi, an associate instructor in the Comparative Literature and Languages Department, he explained that they have three main audiences for this protest: the University of California (UC) administration, the state legislature “because they are proposing $400 million budget cuts,” and congressmen of the federal government.
Beginning at the UC Riverside (UCR) sign between the Highlander Union Building and Bell Tower, the newly elected UCR unit chair for the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America Local 4811 (UAW 4811), Moreak Gomez-Diaz, led the crowd through various call and response chants. One such call was, “when graduate students are under attack, what do you say?” and was met with an enthusiastic “Stand up, fight back!” from the crowd. Another was “Kill the what?” met with “kill the cuts!”
Following the chats, two students spoke on their experiences and the impact that has been made on their education and general livelihood. One student, Sandhya Sriram, expressed how she believes that “knowledge is power” and that “this administration benefits from our lack of [science and education].” She continued to empower the crowd and their cheering, stating that “we are a threat to divisiveness, and by creating a welcoming space for anyone, regardless of background, to empower themselves through the pursuit of knowledge, we are a threat to inequity.”
The next speakers were Dr. Dana Simmons and Dr. Michelle Porche, who were present on behalf of the Riverside Faculty Association, “a voluntary association of Senate faculty who stand in solidarity with unions at UCR and across the nation to kill the cuts.”
Dr. Simmons explained that the “[2025-2026] proposed budget would implement an eight percent budget cut to UC totaling $397 million in cuts and additional funding delays of $247 million until 2028.” After the crowd booed, she compared these cuts to California state prisons, stating that the “proposed cuts to the UC budget are four times deeper than proposed cuts to the California prison system.”
Dr. Simmons continued by elaborating on her personal experience with the cuts: “Last Thursday, I received a termination note for a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant that funded a new department and new course on environmental justice and health equity issues that directly impact us and Inland Empire communities.”
Dr. Porche followed, breaking down the impact of the federal cuts on the UCR School of Medicine. Describing impacted clinical research and health services, she mentioned work on “cancer, neurodegenerative disease, infectious disease, chronic disease and psychiatric disorders,” each of which has been impacted.
Additionally, she mentions her own research with Dr. Lisa Fortuna and how “we cannot work in this condition of uncertainty or threats and fear. Yesterday afternoon, we received a termination letter from NIH (National Institutes of Health) immediately canceling our work as academic partners with a community based organization that is the lifeblood of their community.” She adds that this was after two years of training health worker teams.
She continued, “10 minutes ago, we got another letter saying this was reinstated. We can’t do this. We can’t have this level of uncertainty. And we don’t know where we stand really.”
Dr. Simmons concluded their speech with a call to action: “You might not have chosen this moment, but this moment has chosen us. We are called here today. You are hearing the call. It’s ringing loudly. Will you answer it?” The crowd reacted with a collection of “yes’s.”
The final group of speakers before the march were three representatives of the National Union of Health Workers. Each spoke on their experiences in the healthcare field and how the loss of funding has impacted their patients.
Natalie Espinosa ended their assembly with a call to action:
“The federal cuts on research funding aren’t just the numbers on paper. They risk the lives of our communities and our loved ones, and just like we are seeing in healthcare, and this is about more than just money. This is about values, about power, about who gets to thrive in this country and who gets left behind. So today, I say this as someone who knows that it’s like to stand in the fire with all of you. We will not be divided, we will not be silenced, and we will not let them turn their backs on our patients, our students or our future. So I say this to the administration, you can’t cut your way to a healthier nation. Workers, your voices, all of your voices are so, so powerful. And to the public, this is YOUR fight. So kill the cuts, save lives, and fund our future.”
Following these speeches, the crowd began to march from the UCR letter to the School of Medicine. They participated in guided chants, similar to those practiced at the beginning.
During an interview with Dr. Simmons, she expressed that she feels that Tuesday was a “really dark day for knowledge for health, for the well-being of our immediate communities, or our national and of the world.” Adding on, she stated that the cuts being made now will impact groups for years to come causing “ripple effects.”
These ripple effects occur “when research, basic research, is not being done, when the mind of community networks that help us to understand what community needs are and how to address them when that is not being done, the effects last for a very, very long time.”
In regards to the grants cuts her department is facing, she contextualized the timeline of these changes and the uncertainty of which she disapproved. Beginning in January, they received a “stop work letter on a Department of Energy grant.” Following that, there was no contact for a month and a half. Recently, she received another letter “rescinding that stop work order, so it appears that grant is going forward.”
However, she sees this back and forth as “completely nonsensical,” specifically mentioning the School of Medicine faculty and students that have been also receiving contradicting letters. Dr. Simmons brings attention to how these cuts are beyond the numbers and money, specifically stating, “people get fired, people get rehired. We’re talking about people’s livelihoods. We’re talking about not only academic research that contributes to the social good, but also people’s family lives, their livelihoods, their ability to pay their bills. That gets completely disrupted as a result of these cuts.”
Dr. Simmons also shares that the humanities grant that was meant to help begin classes for the environmental justice and health equity courses is meant to assist 25 courses, which constitutes over 1,000 students. Additionally, without the grant, the development of these classes “is going to be delayed, resources will be more stretched, and students will feel that impact.”
This protest was sponsored by The International Union, United Automobile, UAW, Stand Up for Science, American Federation of Teachers, Civil Works Administration, National Education Association, Service Employees International Union, Higher Education Labor United, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) 3299, The Union for Everyone and the Labor for Higher Education Debt Collective.
