June 20, 2025

Dear AERA Members:

We want to inform you that AERA—in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), and United Auto Workers (UAW) (which represents graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty and university staff working on campuses)—has filed a lawsuit challenging DOGE’s unlawful mass terminations of grants at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the consequent harms to AERA, many of our members, and America’s scientific research enterprise.

AERA and its partners are represented in this lawsuit by Democracy Forward and the Norton Law Firm.

The Trump administration has initiated a purge of previously awarded grants and other funding assistance, with 1,600 grants worth $1 billion eliminated. Many of these grants are from the STEM Education (EDU) Directorate and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate. These actions are causing serious harm to the work of academic researchers, upending the progress of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, and undermining scientific progress and the broader impacts to STEM and society.

You can read Democracy Forward's news release here and access the full complaint here.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Felice J. Levine, PhD
Executive Director

Maisha T. Winn, PhD
President