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Dozens of local residents rallied in Mountain View on Saturday to advocate for a field that is central to the identity and economy of Silicon Valley: science.
Kathleen Mikulis, a Mountain View resident, organized the protest, which advocated for scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking. The demonstration, held at the corner of Castro Street and El Camino Real, was one of about 30 scheduled across the country as part of a “Rally to Take Back Science.”
“This is the center of tech and research and we need scientists out here supporting this,” Mikulis said.
The Trump administration has pushed a series of policy changes and budget cuts at federal agencies, which critics see as an attack on the scientific establishment. Last year, the National Institutes of Health was ordered to cut hundreds of grants that didn’t align with President Trump’s agenda, including research related to LGBTQ+ health, diversity, equity and inclusion, and vaccine hesitancy. The federal funding cuts have impacted academic institutions across the country including at Stanford University, which implemented a hiring freeze and laid off hundreds of staff last year.
The rally is the latest of a series of protests in Mountain View denouncing actions by the Trump administration, including federal immigration raids and the U.S. military incursion in Venezuela. Last year, two “No Kings Day” protests drew thousands to El Camino.
Protesters cited various reasons for attending Saturday’s demonstration, but shared a belief that the Trump administration’s actions threatened science – and by extension, people’s lives. Toni MacAskill, a Mountain View resident, said she wanted to make the country better for her 14 grandchildren and viewed her attendance as a way to persuade voters to change course in the upcoming midterm elections.
“We just cannot believe what they are doing to science,” MacAskill said. “It’s just terrible to see that people are dying of measles for no reason.”
Cases of the highly contagious viral infection have been ticking up since last year. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has routinely attacked the safety and efficacy of vaccinations, which the scientific community overwhelmingly views as safe.
Another attendee said that research is not just about the physical sciences.
“It’s about understanding ourselves,” said Patrice Moore, a Mountain View resident.
Moore, a transgender woman, said research on transgender individuals could provide scientific insights, such as how hormone therapy affects bone density, metabolism and cardiovascular health. She added that policies impacting transgender people have historically later been used to target other populations.
“They always target trans people as a way of controlling women,” Moore said.
For some protesters in attendance, this past year marked their first experience with advocacy through peaceful demonstrations. Mikulis herself said it was her first time organizing a protest.
“Silence equals assent, and I want to show that we’re not silent,” Mikulis said. “We need change.”
Thank you for standing up for science!
Authoritarians attack science & education to suppress evidence-based critical thinking, enforce conformity, and solidify power.
If Trump really thought climate change is a “hoax,” he’d celebrate the data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, not push to de-orbit it.
Thanks for covering this important subject. Kudos to Kathleen Mikulis for spearheading the effort! We need more people standing up for democracy at these kinds of protests. Join the No Kings protest Mar 28, 2-4pm at El Camino & Castro, or any of the other events that day. Find an event near you at nokings.org
Thank you for your continuing coverage of the public protests. The public needs as much awareness of the reasons for the protests as possible.