From Brendan McGovern, Delegate to HELU and President, UUP Binghamton Chapter
These are uncertain times for higher education. With aggressive attacks from the Trump administration targeting federal research funding, student aid, and even the very existence of the Department of Education, faculty and students alike are facing unprecedented challenges. Here in upstate New York, United University Professions (UUP) members at Binghamton University have been organizing to push back—and we are doing so by reaching across sectors, building coalitions, and taking our fight beyond the walls of the university.
Last week, we held a Rally to Save Public Education in Binghamton, bringing together K-12 educators from NYSUT, local labor allies through the AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation, student groups and community groups to stand with us against the defunding of public education at all levels. We were joined by State Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, both longtime advocates for fully funded public schools and universities. Their presence underscored a key message: these attacks are not just on higher education, but on public education as a whole. What happens to SUNY impacts K-12, and vice versa. We know that if we want to win this fight, we need to be in it together.
At our Urgent Forum on Attacks on Higher Education, we gathered UUP members and supporters to discuss how federal funding cuts, NIH grant freezes, and attacks on academic freedom are already affecting faculty and students. We heard from researchers who are uncertain whether their projects will be funded next year, educators struggling under increased workloads, and professional employees who face job insecurity due to shifting grant policies. In times like these, our union is a lifeline. We provide not just advocacy, but a space for collective action, strategizing, and solidarity.
The threats to higher education extend beyond our campuses, and so does our resistance. UUP members also joined the nationwide Stand Up for Science event last week, gathering with students, fellow researchers, Congressman Paul Tonko, and other allies in Albany to protest federal cuts to science and research funding. Science does not exist in a vacuum—it requires resources, support, and policies that recognize its value. The fight for academic research is the fight for the future.
For those of us engaged in this work, being part of a national network like HELU means we are not alone. These struggles are playing out in different ways across the country, but the underlying threats are the same. In resisting them, we need each other. We need to share tactics, build national solidarity, and remind ourselves that what happens in one state, in one university, in one lab, affects all of us. Together, we are stronger. Together, we resist.