We, the undersigned, represent many of the successful faculty and graduates of The Ohio State University working in science or science-affiliated careers today. 

We are shocked by the partisan politics underlying the cuts to federal funding for science. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding has been slashed. Extramural grants, which constitute 80-85% of all funding for scientific research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have been put on hold due to a new cap on indirect costs. These cuts are catastrophic to the amazing research being done at The Ohio State University. 

To date, there are at least three separate lawsuits challenging policy changes that block or severely curtail funding for scientific research at Ohio State and other universities around the country, including one from the Association of American Medical Colleges, of which The Ohio State University College of Medicine is a member. Some individual universities, such as the University of Pennsylvania, have issued statements affirming their commitment to “to minimize the impact on faculty and staff, and the important research and clinical trials currently underway,” but many state schools, like The Ohio State University, have remained silent. 

This is understandable, but it is not acceptable in this present moment. The Trump administration has refused to lift the freeze on science funding in defiance of multiple separate court orders from multiple judges. We have already heard of universities rescinding acceptances for graduate students this fall. We demand that the leadership of The Ohio State University take a stand in support of science and issue a public statement that recognizes the significant implications for the future of education at Ohio State, including more than $45 million in cuts to research funding from indirect cuts alone. Whether or not the current lawsuit is successful, we demand greater transparency in sharing with our university and alumni community what steps are being taken to protect the future of science at OSU. The public needs to know that our leaders are stepping up to this unprecedented challenge to loudly support the importance of the work done at our university.

Though signing this petition as private citizens, for all of us, a combination of the following statements are true:

• We have received job offers or are currently holding professorships at The Ohio State University.
• We have been invited back to our departments for lectures and symposia.
• We are considered valuable contributors to diverse scientific fields at many stages of our careers.
• We benefited from partial and full academic scholarships at the public land grant university of Ohio, funded by the taxpayers of Ohio. 
• We train graduate and undergraduate students using federal grants from NIH and NSF.
• We completed our graduate training either at OSU or at other land grant universities, funded by federal grants from the NIH and NSF. 
• Some of us work in research areas where advances are being made on diseases where few or no new treatments have been made available in decades, complex and challenging scientific questions that private industry will not invest in solving.
• Some of us work in research that has direct benefits to working-class communities in Ohio and elsewhere that do not have access to treatment without federal support.
• Some of us have applied the science training we received at OSU to jobs in science, health policy, and regulation, and we understand how cuts to scientific research now will hurt public health in the short and long term.
• We are alumni who have benefitted from the training and education we received at Ohio State and recognize the role research and science played in our training. 

We are concerned that our legislators and taxpayers do not see the real benefits to human health made possible by this funding. We feel that our education at Ohio State – or the education and training we provide to Ohio State students – represents a triumph of public support for science. Please help ensure that the same opportunities are available to the next generation of Ohioans. Please speak out loudly in support of the science created at The Ohio State University – and that federal grant funding is an essential piece to progress and education. 

We urge the leadership at Ohio State to Stand Up for Science. 

Signed: Concerned Faculty and Alumni of The Ohio State University