Hundreds rallied outside the Utah Capitol Monday to protest the Trump administration. The first of two protests aligned with the national 50501 Movement to oppose executive overreach.
Funding for research was top of mind for some.
Infectious disease doctor Marilyn Valentine said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web pages have been removed, hindering her ability to treat patients.
“Recommendations on appropriate antibiotics or anti microbial treatment and follow up and testing — that was not there,” she said. “I don't understand how that hurts anyone to have appropriate science in the world.”
The CDC said it removed certain webpages to comply with two executive orders signed in January, according to NPR. Some were restored, while others remain offline as of Feb. 13.
Matt Bekker, a professor of geography at Brigham Young University, is worried he’ll lose grant funding from the National Science Foundation on two projects he’s working on. One studies the ecosystem near Yellowstone National Park, and the other investigates the climate in subtropical Africa.
The NSF paused funding in January to review how to comply with an executive order. While it has resumed payments, the uncertainty still worries Bekker.
“Now is the time that we need to start making those travel plans, and then if it gets pulled out from underneath us later, then we'll be stuck.”
Bekker said he’s not just concerned about his own research.
“Science provides incredible information about our world, things that can make a difference to people, as well as the environment, and I'm concerned that all that's going to go away.”
Organizers also held protests in other parts of the state. In Ogden, over 50 protesters gathered outside the municipal building on Saturday.
Longtime activist Pam Harrison was there to encourage protestors to get involved with the local Democratic Party. She said she was tired and disheartened.
“The day that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got confirmed, I spent the day crying because I have cancer, and I'm in a clinical trial, and I'm afraid.”
The National Institutes of Health has changed its policy for funding indirect costs of research, which include expenses like heating and cooling research buildings. This could affect the study Harrison is involved with through the University of Vermont.
“This takes courage to be the first guinea pig,” she said. “The fact that they would defund research facilities is beyond the pale.”
Other demonstrators took issue with state politics.
Whitney Hasler, a social worker with the Granite School District, was at the Capitol with her mother and daughters. She said a bill that already passed the House, HB281, would limit how she works with students. The bill would require school-based mental health professionals to obtain written parental consent before conducting therapy with a student. It would allow parents to set certain topics they do or do not want the mental health professional to discuss.
Hasler worries that would make it harder to identify signs of abuse. She said social workers are only there to help.
“Parents don't understand that we're not out to scare their kids or make their kids think something that they didn't already think themselves,” she said.
Cameron Shirts, who organized the Ogden protest, said he hoped to drum up support to push back against what he calls executive overreach. He hoped to continue protesting almost weekly.
“With enough people, enough support, we'll make a real difference,” he said.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
