Woman
Words added to the list. Art by Ella Desane '27
They are attempting to strike us from the page. From research. Not our names, but something more ancient. Something that is unshakable.
Woman.
“What do you mean I’m a taboo subject?” Alexandra Russo ‘25 pleaded as she reflected on recent changes made by President Donald Trump’s Administration.
Darbe Saxbe sent activists into a spiral after her X post caught traction, stating, “BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled.”
Agencies like the National Science Foundation are now mandated to comb through and potentially revise their research grant funding criteria to align with the administration’s objectives in response to Trump’s Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
“Advocate,” “stereotypes,” “inclusivity,” “indigenous community,” “LGBT,” “equality,” “black and Latinx,” “bipoc” and “women” were all among this list.
To erase these words is to erase the world. Words carry history and identity. They are the heartbeat of life. What happens when the language of equity is torn away, piece by piece, policy by policy? When words like “women” and “inclusivity” are deemed dangerous and radical, what remains?
What remains is research that is riddled with its humanity–clinical studies pretending we are all the same. Scientists will still gather numbers and information, but without the language to name who is affected, the numbers become hollow.
“I feel like a hopeless bystander. I genuinely have no idea what to do,” Jaclyn Dobbs ‘28 said. “My lifelong dream is to be a mother, but what person would I be to bring a girl into this world?”
We feel the warnings. The distant sounds of the storm alarms echoing through the town are no longer so distant. The thought of raising a daughter beneath these dark and dangerous skies may begin to feel almost cruel. How do you prepare a child for a world that allows a man to dedicate his entire livelihood to working against those who do not look, live or think like him?
Every day, the Trump administration pushes to dismantle DEI practices, serving as a reminder of how much of the progress made in the United States is at risk.
“I remember looking at people who I know voted for his administration and feeling like ‘Oh so you did this,’” Sylvia Wysor ‘26 said.
The sorrow, born from watching hard-won rights unravel, resonates deeply within the hearts of women everywhere as they see their struggles dismissed by those in power. It is chilling to know that my gender identity is being removed from a research funding list, but my brother’s is not. Why am I so “taboo?”
“Every day carries a sense of dread—watching rights chipped away, hearing leaders speak about women like we’re problems to solve or prizes to claim,” Morgan Chambers ‘25 said. “It’s the exhaustion of knowing that misogyny isn’t hiding anymore—it’s on podiums, in policies, on the news, proudly unapologetic.”
The Trump Administration’s promise to eliminate any policy promoting diversity, equity and inclusion is a threat to the decades of work put into the improvement of the nation’s health, literally and physically.
DEI initiatives in research funding, education and healthcare have proven to help identify health disparities, improve access to health care and ensure that people of all creeds are represented in medical research.
“Woman.” It’s a scary word, or so we’ve been taught.
Too forceful. Too political. Too left-leaning to be studied or prioritized. As we sit back in the comfort of the intangibleness, this word, “woman,” gets pushed out of studies, ignored in data collection and erased from apolitical discussion. Why is my existence political?
“Growing up, we were taught that the struggles of women are behind us, but in recent years, I can’t help but feel the worst is yet to come,” Lindsey Mascia ‘26 said.
And yet, even in the face of this erasure, the fight continues. The absence of women in research, in data, in discussions—it’s a silence that demands to be broken.
The data we gather shapes the world we live in. To omit women, to push them into the margins, is to blur the reality of our importance.
“I’m reminding myself that the fight isn’t over and that there are still good people who are going to continue to stand against his administration and his policies,” Wysor said. “I’m trusting in the power of hope and empathy to win in the end.”
Woman.