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Rosa Lafer-Sousa

@rosalafersousa.bsky.social

2.1K followers 3.2K following 190 posts

🧠 Scientist | UW-Madison Asst. Prof 🦡 | | Former NIH Postdoc | Organizer & Advocate for Science, Democracy, and Labor 🧪🇺🇸✊ (opinions are my own)

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 6d

🇺🇸 These dedicated public servants risked their careers to deliver an urgent message. 🚨

While the 1st amendment grants them the right to speak on matters of public concern, their protection is not guaranteed under an administration hostile to free speech.

Please take the time to listen and boost 🔥

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 6d

Federal workers are speaking out on how the Trump regime is harming Americans:

"We stand here today at a moment of the greatest assault of our lifetimes on our freedoms. The US Constitution is being shredded... We are here to call on Congress to stand up and stop it."

youtu.be/uw1KwIBgrCw?...

Mark Histed, NIH Scientist *speaking in personal capacity

YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition

youtu.be

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 7h

This is a legitimately amazing video from @schumer.senate.gov

Please watch.

Thank you, Chuck Schumer!

youtube.com/shorts/Bl01O...

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 19h

This is a scare tactic.

But most feds I know aren’t scared or traumatized.

We are just that much more passionate and committed to our missions.

Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 19h

@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social is right. You don't just delete laws. And drawing sharpie marks over it doesn't legitimize claims.
#FEDSTRONG

OMB deletes reference to law guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds from shutdown guidance

An Office of Management and Budget FAQ document now states that only excepted employees forced to work without pay are guaranteed backpay at the conclusion of a lapse in appropriations.

www.govexec.com

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 18h

His wife is deeply distressed and just wants her husband back.

Thank you to @alsobrooks.senate.gov and @vanhollen.senate.gov teams for responding within minutes to our request for help.

Let’s get him home before he’s moved to Louisiana. 🙏

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 18h

Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.

He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 19h

“No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms”

Thank you, @insidehighered.com

A Compact for Control (opinion)

No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.

www.insidehighered.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 21h

More lawlessness from Russell Vought at OMB.

The Project 2025 effort has always been about creating fig leaf — lawless — legal arguments that should be laughed out of court.

True for the RIFs, true for this “reinterpretation” of the law that explicitly requires backpay. 1/

Scoop: White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to backpay

A move to deny backpay to up to 750,000 furloughed workers would dramatically escalate Trump's pressure on Democrats to end the shutdown.

www.axios.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

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jeremymberg.github.io

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 1d

I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Letter Regarding Compact

MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 1d

What I didn’t get to say on @msnbc.com part 2

www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8A6KecL/

I went on MSNBC The Weekend Primetime. Here’s what I didn’t get to say, part 2.

TikTok video by jennajmn

www.tiktok.com

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 1d

Required reading for university administrators and any journalist covering the #Compact

@chronicle.com @insidehighered.com
@statnews.com

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

NIH Vigils @nihvigils.bsky.social · 1d

What do you know, when science funding is interrupted, you get less science

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

PubMed Update (no pun intended)

Publications with Pub Date

8/1//24 62209
9/1/24 64765
10/1/24 68211

8/1/25 61610
9/1/25 63719

10/1/25 35936 (as of 10/2/25)
10/1/25 38673 (as of 10/6/25, 8:00 AM)

It appears that ~40% of the expected number of publications are missing for 10/1/25

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a man in a black vest says no bueno in front of mountains

ALT: a man in a black vest says no bueno in front of mountains

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 2d

Here what I didn’t get to say on MSNBC tonight, part 1: www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8A6kqV7/

I went on MSNBC The Weekend Primetime. Here’s what I didn’t get to say, part 1.

TikTok video by jennajmn

www.tiktok.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jill Lawrence @jilldlawrence.bsky.social · 2d

@chrismurphyct.bsky.social to Democrats: Don't be suckers. "This is a high-leverage moment, with the world watching to see what we stand for. And we have a chance to actually constrain his attempt to destroy our democracy..." Great @gregsargent.bsky.social interview. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Chris Murphy’s Extraordinary New Takedown of Trump Should Wake Up Dems

The Democratic senator has taken the lead in drawing attention to Trump’s authoritarianism. In an interview, he offers a stark new warning that should galvanize his fellow Democrats before it’s too la...

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Alexis Goldstein @alexisgoldstein.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s a quick roundup from last week of just a few of the ways federal workers reminded Congress that the “shutdown” started in January: /1

cfpbunion.shop/products/hol...

Hold The Line T-Shirt

100% of proceeds go to the CFPB Union Solidarity Fund.

cfpbunion.shop

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 2d

This is just the beginning.
"The CDC’s priorities have changed dramatically."
“It really represents a hostile takeover of the agency...it gives me concern about what we can trust coming out of the overall agency as well, not just on vaccine safety.”

-Deb Houry
🧪 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A ‘hostile takeover’: ousted CDC official raises alarm over RFK Jr approach to infectious disease

Debra Houry speaks after testifying on eight months under Kennedy, who critics say shuns science and spreads falsehoods

www.theguardian.com

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 2d

I hear all NOSIs are expired.

Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 4d

Shared how the greater shutdown of NIH science has been underway since January on @msnbc.com today.

We need Congress to stand firm to protect science, democracy and the American people.

www.msnbc.com/katy-tur/wat...

Furloughed NIH worker: Left office with 'pit' in my stomach about future of our country

On day three of the government shutdown, around 750,000 federal employees are furloughed as the White House threatens mass firings as early as today. Furloughed NIH Program Director Jenna Norton joins...

www.msnbc.com

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Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Rep. Jason Crow @crow.house.gov · 3d

The Democratic Party is courageously & unapologetically standing up to protect the health care of the American people.

I’m not backing down.

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 3d

Characterizing it as “strategically ambiguous” feels strategically foolish. Take it as the NO that it appears to be. celebrate it, uplift it, run with it. Let Dartmouth walk it back if they want to fold on their expressed principles, but don’t lay the tracks for them.

Reposted by Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 5d

Some academics and administrators are brave in the face of fascism.

Some are not.

Some are complicit.

Some are apologists.

It's not that hard to tell them apart.

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

👏This is what leadership looks like

Bravo #Dartmouth

Response to the ‘Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education’ | Office of the President

president.dartmouth.edu

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

self-government is a fragile endeavor requiring constant effort. its survival depends on the people upholding its principles

Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s so obvious to everyone in the public, and it’s likely universities will capitulate unless we take collective action.

When Ben Franklin was asked what type of govt the Constitutional Convention adopted, his cautionary response was, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

This is an extortion attempt by the Trump administration to control higher education through research funding threats.

Complying would endanger academic freedom and democratic governance for decades.

Science must serve the public, not political loyalty. Sacrificing merit means sacrificing cures.

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

🚨 Are you an alum from one of the 9 universities Trump is attempting to extort right now?

✍️ Sign this petition to defend your university, free speech, and democracy. I signed.

This is a time for courage, not capitulation.
#JustSayNo #Compact 🧪🧠🧬

(context in thread)

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

alumni.controlshift.app

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