Talia LeVine
Welcome back to the Bruno Brief. I’m Talia LeVine, podcast host and section editor. This week, we’ll be speaking with Cate Latimer about how federal actions have affected Brown. Cate recently wrote a story about how faculty and librarians at Brown are working to archive government data, as they face the threat of losing that data under the new Trump administration.
Cate Latimer
Hi my name is Cate, and I’m a university news editor at The Brown Daily Herald.
Talia LeVine
You might have seen Cate’s byline accompanying a dizzying number of headlines recently. She’s been covering how federal actions have shaken Brown. And Brown certainly has been shaken.
Talia LeVine
But today, we won’t be talking about breaking news. Instead, we’ll be discussing an ongoing effort to save data.
Cate Latimer
This data … is being taken down for a bunch of different reasons, and it’s like, kind of unclear exactly what they are and why, what’s going to be next.
There’s been a lot of news about all these web pages, through like the CDC and things like that that are being taken down, things about like HIV or … other like gender affirming care … are being taken down by current administration because they’re supposedly promoting, like gender ideology.
Talia LeVine
The administration has issued multiple executive orders about preventing the spread of what they call “gender ideology.” Back in January, the Associated Press reported that multiple entire webpages went blank. Some of these pages featured public health data related to contraception guidance and surveys showing transgender students faced higher rates of depression, drug use, bullying and other problems.
But how has that loss of data begun to affect Brown?
Cate Latimer
It was interesting to talk to Allan Just because he is a professor who’s actually been affected directly by the taking down of federal data by the current administration.
He’s an associate professor of public health, so he does a lot of research surrounding public health and the environment.
And so he was saying he … he does a lot with air quality and heat waves and how they affect different populations. There’s good data at U.S. embassies and consulates … He said the program for that, for finding that data is being shut down.
Talia LeVine
A lot of researchers also expressed concern about the potential loss of data moving forward. Even if data hasn’t been removed, researchers say the future is unclear regarding what data will be preserved by the Trump administration.
Talia LeVine
Cate, what other data did Allan say might be at risk?
Cate Latimer
He uses a lot of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which hasn't currently been taken down, but he has fears about that and he said that it would be a huge loss to scientific communities if they were to disappear.
Talia LeVine
Why are so many researchers reliant on federal data in the first place?
Cate Latimer
Some of these national data sets are just huge, and they have so much information that’s super important for research at any level, at universities across the country… I think federal data is often the easiest thing to do because it’s very accessible and it it’s so widespread
Talia LeVine
What are folks at Brown doing to help preserve this data?
Cate Latimer
Holly Case, who’s a history professor here … She heard about people being concerned about this data at a town hall … a faculty town hall, and so she decided it would be kind of important to bring these people together to talk about how their data is impacted, what we can do about it.
Talia LeVine
And Case isn’t the only person working to archive federal datasets. Librarian Frank Donnelly has been at the center of efforts to save data.
Cate Latimer
And he said that since Trump’s inauguration, there’s been a lot of librarians that are concerned about this, and concerned about data. And so he said he’s been archiving this data since around that time, and he’s been involved with other librarians at other universities across the country who are working on that as well.
Talia LeVine
Many librarians are a part of the Data Rescue Project, a nationwide effort to archive data before it disappears from the web. But how exactly are they creating these archives?
Cate Latimer
You can use the like, the Wayback Machine, the like, Internet Archive is a way a lot of people do it … people said that they’re really only archiving the data they frequently work with … they’re finding what would impact them if it were to be gone … and saving it and communicating with other people to the best of their ability to make sure that all the data is being saved across various areas.
Talia LeVine
Thanks so much for joining us, Cate.
Cate Latimer
Of course, thanks so much for having me.
Talia LeVine
Here’s a brief rundown of other stories recently reported by The Herald.
Last Thursday, Brown rounded out its admitted class of 2029 with 2,418 accepted applicants. The University saw its smallest applicant pool since the class of 2024. The overall acceptance rate for the class of 2029 was 5.65%.
Also, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote a letter laying out principles that would guide the University’s response should the Trump administration threaten Brown’s academic mission. She reiterated Brown’s commitment to a spirit of free inquiry and freedom of expression.
And, the Providence City Council’s chief of staff June Rose was arrested during a protest. Rose was arrested alongside over 90 other activists. Some members of the City Council have voiced support for Rose, but others have requested she resign.
Talia LeVine
Thanks again for tuning into the Bruno Brief. This episode was produced, edited and scripted by Talia LeVine, Ciara Meyer, Andrea Li and Anisha Kumar. If you like what you hear, subscribe to The Bruno Brief wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.
Music:
