HANOVER — Upper Valley residents took to the streets on Friday to protest the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts. 

More than 100 people gathered in blustery conditions on the Dartmouth Green to decry the administration’s efforts to slash government funding to organizations conducting scientific research. 

The protest was one of more than 30 rallies that took place across the country as part of the initiative Stand Up for Science spearheaded by an Emory University graduate student. 

Brad Duchaine, a professor in Dartmouth’s Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, organized the Hanover protest.

“I wanted to make it known how people felt about the attack on science,” said Duchaine, who’s taught at Dartmouth since 2010. 

Chief among their concerns was the recent attempt to slash the National Institute of Health’s budget, $35 billion of which funds research at universities, hospitals and other organizations.

The funding is divided into “direct costs” — covering researchers’ salaries and a project’s supplies — and “indirect costs,” to reimburse other expenses supporting the work such as electricity, maintenance and custodial staff, and safety and ethics oversight.

NIH directly negotiates with research groups, a process that grants managers say requires receipts and audits, to set rates for those indirect expenses that can reach 50% or more. But the Trump administration now plans to cap those rates at 15%. The administration estimates it would save the federal government $4 billion a year, but scientists say it really means they’ll have to stop some lifesaving work.

U.S. students are already being impacted by the proposed cuts, said Michael Ragusa, a biochemistry professor at Dartmouth professor, who spoke at the rally. 

Ragusa is a mentor for the college’s Postbac Research Education Program, or D-PREP, a nationwide program that prepares participants for study at the graduate level. 

A request made in January for funding for D-PREP through the NIH has not garnered a response. All information about PREP has been washed from the NIH website, said Ragusa, who fears that termination of the program will soon follow. 

Several similar programs across the country have not yet received funding they expected in February, said Ragusa in a phone interview following the protest. 

Student protesters expressed concerns about what funding cuts could mean for their employment prospects. Last Tuesday, the University of Vermont announced a 60-day hiring freeze in response to threats to federal funding, VTDigger reported. 

“I’ve started to look abroad,” said Alex Turnquist, a graduate student studying cancer immunology at Dartmouth. 

Efforts to reduce the federal workforce have already resulted in firings across government departments. 

Woodstock resident Bryce O’Brien, who was at the rally, said he was recently laid off from his job as a marine geospatial analyst at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, a bureau of the Department of Commerce.  He had recently received an award from the department for his research. 

O’Brien, 27, who had worked remotely at NOAA for 1½ years, said he was not provided a reason for the dismissal.

He worries about finding future employment in his field. 

“I might have to leave the Upper Valley,” he said. 

Across the river on Friday, Thetford resident Jake Guest held a one man protest outside the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction with signs he’d drawn up that morning. 

“Thank you VA workers. Vets know you care,” read one of them. 

“I was really upset about cuts to government jobs,” said the 80-year-old Guest, referring to the Trump Administration’s announcement to reorganize the Veteran Affairs department, a plan that involves cutting over 80,000 job, according to the Associated Press. 

Guest was stationed in Germany as an Army medic for three years beginning in 1963. He’s relied on the VA for medical care, including a recent knee replacement.

“I’m very grateful for the VA,” said Guest, who grew up in the Upper Valley. 

“Maybe if I set an example, more people will come out,” he said. 

A third rally was scheduled for Saturday morning at Colburn Park in Lebanon on International Women’s Day. 

In 2017, thousands of protesters nationwide dawned pink “pussyhats” to protest Trump’s first term in office. 

Now, as women’s reproductive rights are once again under threat, it’s time to take to the streets again, said Lebanon resident Susan Kellogg, who helped organize the rally. 

“Dust off your pussyhat and let’s do it,” Kellogg said. 

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. 

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.