[Updated: Wed., Apr. 9, 2025, 9am]
Hundreds of students, researchers, and union representatives gathered outside UC Santa Barbara’s Davidson Library at noon on Tuesday, April 8, as part of a national “Kill the Cuts” day of action. This demonstration was one of 37 coordinated protests opposing proposed Trump administration cuts to federal research, healthcare, and education funding.
The protest was led by the UC academic workers union UAW 4811 and supported by a coalition of labor and education organizations, including SEIU, AFSCME, and AFT. Demonstrators held navy and yellow signs reading, “Kill the Cuts. Save Lives.” A large banner referencing UAW 4811 unfurled at the top of the library steps, declaring: “THE UNION of 48,000 Academic Workers at the University of California.”
Emma Hanlon, a UCSB Religious Studies graduate student and UAW Head Steward, opened the demonstration with chants of “Who runs the UC? We run the UC!” Around 12:30 p.m., with Hanlon at the helm, the group marched through North Hall to the beat of drums, their voices echoing “Kill the cuts!” down the corridor.
The rally focused on proposed federal cuts to institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and state-level budget reductions under Governor Gavin Newsom that threaten UC funding. Protesters argue that these cuts jeopardize everything from cancer research to teaching assistant positions and graduate-level jobs.
“These budget cuts in the name of efficiency are really just taking our taxpayer money away from lifesaving research,” said Madeline Vailhe, a fourth-year graduate student in the Materials Department and a unit chair with UAW 4811.
Vailhe also addressed the broader impact of the cuts on the scientific community. “The cuts are affecting science around the globe in the context that the U.S. is a leader in research,” she said. “Research funded by the NIH has made the U.S. a global leader in lifesaving medical breakthroughs that benefit millions.”
She added that some UCSB researchers have already felt the effects. “There have been layoffs of graduate students and researchers on this campus. People hired under new Department of Energy grants are seeing their funding halted. They’re being told they may have to transfer labs or even drop from PhD programs to master’s. The uncertainty is real.”

The Trump administration’s move to cap NIH indirect cost reimbursements at 15 percent has sparked backlash from legislators and institutions alike. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff issued a joint statement calling the cuts “catastrophic,” warning that “research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly.”

Second-year global studies PhD student Amam Mehta, a TA and UAW 4811 head steward, described the crisis as a multi-front assault on education and health. “There’s an 8 percent cut proposed to the UC budget — almost $400 million — which we haven’t seen since the 2008 financial crisis,” Mehta said. “At the same time, they’re increasing enrollment, which means more students and fewer resources. And now the NIH is on the chopping block too. That’s where the funding for Alzheimer’s and cancer research comes from.”
“The UC system is one of the largest recipients of NIH funding,” Mehta added. “This is research that literally saves lives. Cutting it tells working people, cancer patients, and future scientists that their futures don’t matter.”
One speaker, Piyusha Lotlikar, shared a personal story about how the proposed cuts threaten her academic future and her livelihood.
“Four years ago, I started my graduate studies at Cornell University, and about nine months ago, I moved across the country with my PI [principal investigator] to UCSB, where I’ll hopefully finish my PhD,” she said. “That move brought significant stressors — but imagine something worse: growing job insecurity.”
“As a specialist at UCSB, I, like many of you, can’t rely on TAships to support me if there’s a lapse in funding. If my PI loses access to vital funding, that’s the end of my degree and the end of my job. These cuts represent an unprecedented loss of job security in the public sector. And on top of that, we literally cannot continue the work that defines our careers.”
Protesters remain unified in their larger call: Stop the disinvestment in public science and education. “We cannot settle for less when lives hang in the balance,” said Lotlikar.
More information about the protest and participating institutions is available at killthecuts.org.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct a quote from Madeline Vailhe about how the cuts are affecting science around the globe.
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