Scientists Gather for Second Annual ‘Stand Up for Science’ Rally

Scientists, researchers, students, and advocates turned out in dozens of cities across the U.S. on Saturday for the second annual Stand Up for Science rally, with many protesting the Trump administration’s efforts to disrupt federally-funded research and calling to remove Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

At the flagship rally in Washington, DC, former federal science leaders and Democratic politicians called out the dangers of political interference in science and accused the Trump administration of pushing scientists out of the federal government, ignoring scientific evidence, and spreading scientific misinformation.

“Science should be driven by scientists, not political appointees,” Colette Delawalla, founder and CEO of Stand Up for Science, said at the rally. “Democracy relies on freedom of speech, thought, and inquiry. When a government bans words, tells us what we can study, threatens universities, purges science, overwrites science with ideology — that is not a society moving in a democratic or free direction,” she added.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also addressed the crowd, warning that the country has become “an evidence-free zone.” In a subsequent interview, Van Hollen said the Trump administration’s “conspiracy theories and their lies are literally putting people’s lives at risk. So for both health reasons and economic reasons, we have a duty to stand up and fight back.”

Crowd members applauding one of the speakers at the rally.

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Colette Delawalla, Stand Up for Science founder and executive director.

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Stephen Volz, who was placed on administrative leave from his position as head of NOAA’s satellite division last year.

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A demonstrator holding a sign that says “the assault on science will haunt this country for generations.”

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Crowd members at the rally.

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Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA).

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House Shadow Rep. Oye Owolewa (D-DC) embracing a Stand Up for Science organizer.

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An inflatable rubber duck at the rally that says “anti-vax quack” on its chest.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

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A demonstrator dressed as Uncle Sam applauding one of the speakers.

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A demonstrator holding up a sign that says “Trump cut science research.”

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A costumed demonstrator holding a sign that says “evidence-based outrage.”

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).

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The front row of the rally crowd.

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A demonstrator holding a sign that says “fund science not war!”

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New York Democratic congressional candidate George Conway.

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Union of Concerned Scientists President and CEO Gretchen Goldman.

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A demonstrator dressed as an ‘AMPHIFA’ amphibian holding a sign that says “Amphibians are ecosystem indicators for pollution and fascism.”

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The crowd facing the stage.

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Jenna Norton, a scientist who filed a whistleblower complaint after NIH placed her on administrative leave last year, told the crowd that, while it is positive that Congress did not enact the spending cuts to science proposed by the Trump administration, “funding alone is not enough.” She urged scientists to support each other, even if they cannot speak out publicly, warning that a “heads-down approach will fail.”

“This regime is not just opposed to research on transgender health, or mRNA vaccines, or health equity, or structural racism; they are opposed to science itself. Eventually, they will come for your science too.” Invoking German pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous text, First They Came, Norton said, “Do not let your field of science be the last one — the one left standing with no one left to speak out for you.”

Stephen Volz, who led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite division until he was placed on indefinite administrative leave last year, spoke about a “great silencing” of scientists in the federal government, saying that many federal scientists are feeling isolated. He also shared concerns about the tens of thousands of scientists and engineers who have left federal service in the past year and the impact of the Trump administration’s cancellation of several planned instruments at NOAA that would have improved air and water quality measurements.

“Our ability to make reasoned, informed decisions has been hijacked,” Volz said. “Without reliable satellite observations, future forecasts will suffer. We will live our lives with greater uncertainty, greater risk, and greater cost.”

Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said her organization, which recently joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, is “outraged about all the ways that science and scientists are being ignored and misused and weaponized by political actors at the expense of our health, our safety, and our future.”

“From day one, President Trump and his political appointees decided that they didn’t have to listen to the scientists and they didn’t have to listen to the science,” Goldman said. “But that’s not how this works. Despite the administration’s best efforts, this is still a democracy, and we’re going to make them listen to us.”

Moving forward, Stand Up For Science is asking supporters to call their representatives and encourage them to back a bill to impeach RFK Jr. The organization is also aiming to make science a bigger issue in the coming midterm elections.

“We want to see a pro-science Congress,” said Delawalla in an interview backstage. “That’s how we’re going to stop the destruction. And if people in Congress right now won’t stand up for science, we’ll elect people who will stand up for science.”

Avery Thompson contributed to reporting.