December 2017

More than 40 science, engineering, and higher education organizations, including AERA, sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney on December 19, urging the Trump administration to ensure that the federal government “utilizes science-based decision making in its policy formulations, that scientific information is communicated in an accurate manner and reflected as such in government documents, reports, and websites.”

The letter stemmed from concerns generated by widespread reports that certain words and phrases, including “evidence-based” and “science-based,” were banned from being used in budget documents being prepared by staff at the Centers for Disease Control.

In a tweet on December 18, AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine advised association members and the science community to “take heed of this report of OMB now restricting the CDC from using certain words (e.g., transgender) important to identifying population characteristics AND forbidding terms of science (e.g., evidence-based).”