About 150 people rallied on campus at the University of Montana last week as part of the nationwide “Stand Up For Science” movement. Speakers urged elected leaders to promote research free of politics — and to continue to financially support science on college campuses.
The demonstrations came as President Donald Trump’s Administration scrutinizes federal funding across the nation. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics found that the federal government funds more than half of all research in higher education.
UM vice president for research Scott Whittenburg says about 80% of the school’s research funding comes from the federal government.
“The question about, ‘What does the future look like?’ — we don’t know,” Whittenburg says.
Universities across the country are closely watching an effort by the federal government to lower research grant money that can be spent on so-called “indirect costs.” Campuses regularly use that money to pay for costs not directly related to research, but still important for making it possible: utilities, facility maintenance and staffing, for example.
The National Institutes of Health wants to cap those payments in the grants it awards. Whittenburg says UM would lose out on about $2.5 million immediately if that happened. At Montana State University, spokesperson Tracy Ellig says researchers would lose $2 million.
“They feel like they did everything that the federal government was asking for them, and suddenly, the carpet’s being pulled out from underneath them,” Ellig told MTPR in a phone interview.
A federal judge has paused some research funding cuts as a lawsuit plays out. But Ellig says uncertainty surrounding how grants can and can’t be used is forcing MSU to take precautions, like urging researchers to cancel travel plans and preserve their funding while it’s still flowing.
