On June 5, 2026, Louisiana State Police removed five researchers from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) annual meeting for distributing an editorial criticizing the US administration’s research funding policies.
At the time of the researchers’ removal, they were peacefully and quietly distributing the editorial from the peer reviewed journal Diabetes Care, an official publication of the ADA, outside of a room where NIH Senior Advisor Richard Woychik was about to give a keynote address. (NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya was originally scheduled to give the keynote, but canceled, citing a meeting with President Donald Trump.) Among the 10 researchers participating in the action was Steve Kahn, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington and editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care. Event security and police intervened, told five of the researchers to leave the event, escorted them outside, and confiscated their event lanyards. According to one of the researchers, police threatened to arrest them outside of the convention center where the meeting was being held. ADA event organizers informed the researchers that they had been removed for violating the event code of conduct and would not be able to participate in additional conference sessions.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about an academic association censoring academic expression by preventing researchers disseminating research-related information at an academic event, in an apparent attempt to avoid state retaliation. Limits on academic research, teaching, or discourse, whether imposed by higher education association leaders directly or on behalf of state officers, undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/08/police-remove-diabetes-researchers-conference
https://www.newsdirectory3.com/scientists-ejected-from-ada-conference-over-criticism-of-trumps-research-crackdown/ https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-professor-was-ejected-from-a-conference-for-criticizing-the-trump-administration-he-says-he-was-shocked
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/121619
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/06/05/diabetes-researchers-ousted-conference-after-criticizing-trump/
https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/09/american-diabetes-association-uproar-over-expulsion-of-members/
https://www.science.org/content/article/diabetes-society-officials-resign-after-removal-trump-protestors-conference