Harvard epidemiologist explains the domino effect of Trump data purges

 

New from CommonWealth Beacon RAY OF SUNLIGHT: A Massachusetts-based company is looking to provide funding for community solar projects in underserved areas through a new renewable energy credit program, Bhaamati Borkhetaria reports, by charging corporate buyers more and funneling the surplus into a new fund. KICKING THE CAN: Cannabis delivery licenses have been restricted to those who qualify for license categories targeted toward individuals impacted by the war on drugs during a three-year “exclusivity period.” The state Cannabis Control Commission extended that period by one year, Bhaamati Borkhetaria reports, but members say they need more data to decide if a further extension is warranted. OPINION: Institutions of higher education should not double down on the “failing ideology” of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, even though the Trump administration's attacks on such programs are driven by the president’s “long, dark history of racism,” argues Lane Glenn, president of Northern Essex Community College and a board member of MassINC.

Harvard epidemiologist explains the domino effect of Trump data purges March 17, 2025 By CommonWealth Beacon Staff The Bay State is famed for its “meds and eds economy” – where medical and educational institutions are major employers across the state, attracting students and residents and training in-demand high skilled workers. Those institutions are in the crosshairs of the second Trump administration, which is slashing funding for scientific research and leading to massive cuts at some of the country’s most significant and prestigious scientific research institutions like Johns Hopkins and hiring freezes at institutions including Harvard University. The administration says it is targeting an overreach of “woke” politics and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education, while researchers say the university cuts and removal of critical public health data will undermine the knowledge economy and make the entire country less prepared for major crises. This week on The Codcast, reporter Jennifer Smith is joined by Ariel Beccia, an instructor in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to break down the impacts of cuts across higher education and loss of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Beccia is a faculty member of Harvard STRIPED – the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders – and Harvard’s LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence. Beccia’s work is directly implicated by many of the recent decisions about the data systems deemed unreliable or unacceptable by the Trump administration. She also worries about the recent announcement that the UMass Chan Medical School, where she obtained her PhD, has rescinded certain acceptance offers. The US is at risk of losing “a generation of young scientists” because of these cuts across academia, she said.    “A lot of people think these data sets are just used by academics to do research in the ivory tower, to work on their papers,” Beccia said. “But that’s not the case at all. It has such a direct implication on the lives and well-being of individuals and community throughout the US and here in Massachusetts.” During the episode, Beccia and Smith discuss the scale of data removal and relabeling (01:45), the scramble from academics to preserve data sets as they vanished (07:30), how gender identity is being targeted (10:00), and how undermining trust in government data impacts local schools and community centers here in Massachusetts (13:50). Listen Now Listen Now

More from CommonWealth Beacon BEHIND SCHEDULE: An advisory commission for replacing the controversial Massachusetts state seal, which features an arm holding a sword above a Native American man holding a bow, is running months behind schedule. Gintautas Dumcius has the story. OPINION: As President Trump looks to gut the Department of Education, mass layoffs at the department are a signal that the administration is serious about efforts to abolish it, writes Joshua Cowen, professor of education policy at Michigan State University.

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What We're Reading TRANSPORTATION: Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding Massachusetts secured for its West-East Rail plan might be imperiled by new federal priorities shifting away from transit and toward immigration. (Daily Hampshire Gazette) BEACON HILL: All three branches of Massachusetts government claim to be exempt from public records laws. A new Boston Globe survey of legislators found just 12 percent of said they believe they should be subjected to state public records law, with even fewer saying Gov. Maura Healey’s office or the judiciary should be required to follow the law. ECONOMY: Boston has all the ingredients to build America’s next wave of Black tech founders: elite universities, billions in venture funding, and a booming innovation economy, a new Boston Magazine article notes, yet the state trails when it comes to investing in companies with Black founders. COURTS: The high-end brothel case in Massachusetts and Virgina can move ahead, a Cambridge judge ruled, after efforts from buyers to keep their names hidden from the record and toss the case. (GBH News) POLITICS: Gov. Maura Healey’s profile is on the rise as she makes the national news circuit, opining with some frankness on why the Democrats lost in November: She says they failed to address the pain of many working Americans, and that Joe Biden was a terrible messenger-in-chief. She defends the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs under assault by Washington, saying Massachusetts still values diversity. (WBUR)

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