Professional societies can speak out against encroaching authoritarianism
A first post and a first step.
Today I arrived at the American Physical Society’s annual meeting where an expected 15,000 physicists are gathered, primarily to share their latest research and discoveries. APS’s mission is to “advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society.” In the past this has meant converging conferences and advocating for science funding. But today I am hoping that it can also play a role in pushing back against encroaching authoritarianism.
I will be urging my fellow society members to pressure the APS to take a more aggressive stance against the creeping authoritarianism that I believe is the root cause of recent attacks on science. In my first substack post, I am sharing with you what I plan to argue:
To defend science, APS must push back against encroaching authoritarianism
Science is now threatened by a lurch towards an increasingly authoritarian political system that ignores the courts and congress and tramples constitutional rights. We should encourage APS to take on this root cause of the attacks on science and scientists.
Congress passed a reasonable science budget but the administration is ignoring congress and illegally impounding funds at the NIH and other agencies despite court orders. Elon Musk’s DOGE is also slashing staff at federal science agencies, including NSF, through means of dubious legality.
Perhaps most worrisome, science funding is being illegally withheld in retaliation for protected free speech. Regardless of which side you take on the Gaza-Israel conflict, it is contrary to the First Amendment to cancel federal science funding in retaliation for political protests, as happened at Columbia University.
We now risk losing top scientists through attacks on foreign scholars in America. The federal government illegally deported a visa-holding physician-scientist at Brown University in a flagrant violation of a federal court order.
APS should join universities and other civil society groups to push back against this encroaching authoritarianism that directly threatens science.
APS should:
Use their media and homepage to more prominently speak out against attacks on science
call out instances where the administration ignores court orders that threaten science
Hire lawyers and file lawsuits to defend the interest of physicists and its members
Join common cause with other groups, such as Union of Concerned Scientists