1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

The executive actions of President Trump a wreaking havoc on our country’s ability to conduct research and to educate our citizens. Our future looks darker with every passing day. Academic conferences are being cancelled because they fear suffering funding cuts by this Administration. Educational programs that used to created opportunities for the least privileged are going away. What has our nation become? We now have a list of words put out by the Executive that will be used to identify those who go against their interest to create a male dominated, white society. Anything that investigates or exposes the plight of women and people of color is now out of style and marked for extinction. Any academic institution that protects freedom of speech is in the Executive’s cross hairs if they support what is anathema to this president. This reeks of McCarthyism, of censorship, of authoritarianism. What has “the land of the free” become? With funding cuts to education, to science, to scholarly pursuits, we cannot possibly have any future. It will not take long for the U.S. will become an importer of knowledge and of learned people. We have never been a backwards country, but that is what we have become since January 20th. We need you to stand up and to speak up in defense of education and of academic research in our nation. The quick pace of the dismantling of our educational system and our scholarly infrastructure mandates that you take action NOW.