The UAW is fighting against the federal government’s attacks on science and researchers at the national level. This email contains two surveys which require input from UAW-represented researchers, including postdocs here at Einstein. One survey pertains to delayed or cancelled NIH grant applications, and the other relates to government monitoring of international workers’ social media accounts. Input from UAW members is crucial to the fight to protect funding for research and researchers’ civil liberties.
Here is a link to the Delayed or Cancelled NIH Grant Application Survey.
Here is a link to the Social Media Survey.
Below is more detailed information on each survey, and how the data will be used.
In Solidarity,
Juliane Grimm, Cell Biology
ERU-UAW Organizing Committee
1) Survey for Delayed or Withdrawn NIH Applications
UAW is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit (APHA v. NIH) that involves grant applications administratively withdrawn, delayed, or otherwise left unreviewed as a result of NIH’s unlawful Directives. If you are affected by a grant application that meets these criteria, please fill out this form by Friday August 1 at 2pm Pacific Time: https://www.aclu.org/APHAvNIHform.
The court has asked for a final list of delayed or withdrawn applications that fit the following criteria:
1. The survey respondent is an APHA and/or UAW member; and
2. The application touches on a disfavored topic (DEI, gender identity, vaccine hesitancy, Covid-19, foreign subawards, influencing public opinion, South Africa, and/or China)
or
The application is for a diversity pipeline program (non-exhaustive list: MOSAIC, F31 Diversity, IRACDA, MARC, ARC, IMSD, ReWARD, B-INSPIRE, CPACHE, BRAIN Initiative, Cancer Moonshot Scholars Diversity Program).
The date by which this list must be submitted to the court is in flux but could be as early as August 4, 2025. If you meet the above criteria and would like to be included on the list submitted to the court, please submit a survey response today (August 1st), or as soon as possible, so the lawyers can review your information. It is possible that information submitted after that date will not be considered by the court for relief. Survey respondents are encouraged to provide details about how the delayed or withdrawn application may touch on a disfavored topic or pertain to a diversity pipeline program. Lawyers will follow-up directly if there are any outstanding questions.
The link to the survey is here: https://www.aclu.org/APHAvNIHform. Please share this link with impacted colleagues who also meet the above criteria. If you have general questions about the litigation, please contact apha-v-nih-survey@aclu.org.
2) Changes to social media use during the Trump administration?
Over the last six months, our union has been active in joining and supporting various lawsuits challenging Trump administration attacks on higher education including cuts to grant funding and restrictions on free speech. The UAW is continuing to explore potential avenues for legal action to protect UAW members, including international students and scholars.
The Trump administration recently announced that it intends to monitor social media of non-US citizens for certain viewpoints. To help us identify the impact of potential social media monitoring on UAW members and to prepare for potential legal action, please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous survey. Both US-citizens and non-US citizens should fill it out so we can understand the full impacts of this policy.
This survey is completely confidential and anonymous, and will not collect your name, email address, contact, or other identifying information. Responses will be routed to our attorneys and are attorney-client privileged communications. If you are part of a UAW-represented bargaining unit that is bargaining for its first contract, you may also fill it out, but please do not share the survey with anyone who is not a UAW member or part of a UAW-represented bargaining unit.
If you have been affected by the Trump administration’s social media surveillance and are interested in further supporting the UAW’s work on this issue, including potential participation in legal action, please contact the UAW Higher Education Department via Zoe Carey (email zcarey@uaw.net or via Signal @zoecarey.01) or Neal Sweeney (email nsweeney@uaw.net or via Signal @nealsweeney.57).