The U.S. House of Representatives voted 222-209 to pass a funding package to end the 43-day shutdown and fund the government until Jan. 30. President Donald Trump then signed the funding bill just hours after the House sent it to his desk.

At least 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed since the shutdown began on Oct. 1 and about 730,000 continued to work without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The shutdown has left many Americans without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, since the Trump administration cut off the program in response. Benefits will be restored, but it might take more than 24 hours in some states to receive benefits, the Associated Press reported.

[Trump administration demands state leaders undo full SNAP payments]

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a Wednesday statement that though the government has been reopened, healthcare costs will continue to rise and affect Maryland residents.

“Maryland is doing its job,” Moore said. “It’s time Donald Trump and Washington did theirs – without selling out the people they’re supposed to protect.”

Moore allocated $62 million to ensure full November SNAP benefits for Marylanders. He also declared a state of emergency to help address the impacts of the shutdown and issued $10 million in emergency funding to Maryland food security partners.

Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, who previously served as Prince George’s County executive, issued a joint statement on Oct. 30 with Maryland’s Democratic House representatives pledging support for Moore’s actions.

“We stand with the Governor and support this decision to help Marylanders put food on the table, as we continue fighting to reopen the government and end this shameful Republican shutdown,” the statement read.

University president Daryll Pines sent a letter to the University of Maryland community on Nov. 4 highlighting resources for students, faculty and staff to use during the pause in benefits, including the campus pantry.

Patrick O’Shea, this university’s vice president for research, shared in a statement just before the shutdown began that even after  the government shutdown ends, there will still be some delays in the federal government funding.

[UMD experts say worse political gridlock is contributing to government shutdown’s length]

During the shutdown, employees could not receive new federal awards and the proposal review process for principal investigators was delayed.

The new funding package will protect federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees pay for them once the shutdown is over.

The shutdown has also resulted in the mass delay and cancellation of flights, after an increase in unpaid air traffic controllers calling out of work due to financial pressure, the Associated Press reported on Nov. 7. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an order on Nov. 6 that significantly cut the number of flights at 40 “high impact” airports including Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport. Flight cuts will stay at six percent as employees return to work, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

In October, the Category 5 hurricane began wreaking havoc across the Caribbean, making landfall in Jamaica before then heading north toward Cuba, Haiti, the Bahamas and Bermuda. Nearly 6 million people in the Caribbean are affected by the storms’ destruction, according to the United Nations.

The junior public health practice major, who is half Jamaican, said that her father’s side of the family was caught in the storm. Hall nervously awaited calls from her family in St. Ann’s, confirming their safety.

“It is very devastating,” Hall said. “It’s going to affect the Jamaican community a lot and especially for the people who have family there.”

As a result of the hurricane, 45 people have died and 15 people have been reported missing, the Jamaican government confirmed Tuesday. The storm has displaced 30,000 households, according to Jamaica’s emergency management office director.

Hall said it would take months for Jamaicans to rebuild their homes and major buildings, like churches, in their towns. Hall is also the president of this university’s Caribbean Student Association, and said the association is planning to accept donations to give to the Jamaican embassy in Washington, D.C.

The association is donating medical supplies, basic hygiene products and family care materials. The closest drop-off location to campus is The Jerk Pit, she said.

“We feel helpless because we don’t feel like what we can give is enough,” Hall said. “But there’s still a sense of at least giving what we’re capable of.”

Hall also said peer support is important at this time. Donations, prayers and raising awareness on campus can help those affected by the storm’s damage, Hall added.

[UMD community members reflect on war, humanitarian crisis in Sudan]

The association released a statement on social media on Oct. 29 expressing its support for any Maryland community members with personal ties to the countries affected by the hurricane.

”Our thoughts are with those who have experienced loss and disruption as a result of the severe weather event,” the post read. “CSA stands in solidarity with all those engaged in recovery and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of this disaster.”

The Dean of Students Office reached out to students from Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic to offer support.

Twanna Hodge, a doctoral information science student who was born and raised on the St. Thomas Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said though hurricanes are a common occurrence in the Caribbean, Hurricane Melissa is one of the most devastating hurricanes in history.

She added that high winds and devastating rainfall leaves most without electricity for days. This leaves people without a way to safely cook food or get in touch with relatives for long periods of time, she explained.

“It is hard to be in a situation where you can only watch what is happening,” Hodge said.

Hodge mentioned witnessing the total devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, a storm in 2017 that struck Puerto Rico. It killed about 3,000 people, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

International education policy doctoral student Abigail Smith is working closely with the Jamaican embassy in Washington, D.C., to help support those affected in her home country.

[UMD students celebrate diversity of South Asian culture at multicultural night]

Smith grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and said she immediately jumped into action when she heard about the storm.

“My first reaction was like, I want to go home,” she said. “I want to go help. I want to be on the ground.”

Smith said she plans to go home by the end of the year to help her community, but it is not currently safe for her to go to Jamaica due to the storm’s destruction. While she is away from home, Smith said the support she has received from her peers has been heartwarming.

Many of Smith’s classmates checked in on her after the news broke, the International Student and Scholar Services office sent an email with resources and a faculty advisor donated about $100 for supplies.

“Our humanity is so tied to each other,” Smith said. “You know, it’s Jamaica today, it could be D.C. or Maryland tomorrow.”

This story has been updated. 

Federal judges ruled last week that the Trump administration must use $4 billion in emergency funds to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by Friday, court documents show. But on that Friday, the administration issued an emergency appeal to block that court order, despite some states already issuing funds, according to court documents.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accepted the appeal on Friday, giving the administration 48 hours to respond. The agriculture department then demanded states to undo any funding that may have gone out in the past week.

In response to the original court ruling demanding the Trump administration pay for SNAP benefits, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore allotted $62 million from the Fiscal Responsibility Fund for Maryland residents.

Maryland joined many other states in suing the Trump administration for suspending SNAP benefits.

Nearly 680,000 Maryland residents rely on federal food assistance programs, with nearly 270,000 of those being children, according to an October news release from Moore’s office. Many SNAP recipients have felt uncertainty as the nation continues its longest government shutdown in history, nearing 40 days.

Moore also declared a state of emergency on Oct. 30 as a response to the shutdown in an attempt to assist those affected by the mass layoffs and revocation of federal benefits. Moore said $10 million from Maryland’s Fiscal Responsibility funds would be used to assist food banks across the state.

”Witholding funding from food assistance is not just illegal, it’s also cruel,” Moore wrote in his state of emergency declaration.

Many states alluded to “catastrophic operational disruptions,” if they do not get reimbursed for the SNAP benefits distributed prior to the Supreme Court’s pause, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

The administration also noted on Saturday that states may face repercussions if they do not undo steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits, as the original ruling to distribute funds was “unauthorized.”

About 680,000 Maryland residents who rely on federal food assistance programs will not receive their November benefits.

Starting Nov. 1, the federal government shutdown will pause the nationwide distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly known as food stamps or SNAP benefits.

Hundreds of thousands of Marylanders could be forced to make tough financial decisions when choosing between paying bills or going hungry. The revocation of these benefits leaves many families with children and other dependents without proper nutritional access.

Here’s what to know about the pause in SNAP benefits.

Who is affected?

SNAP benefits help low-income families across the United States afford food. About 11 percent of Prince George’s County residents receive food assistance from the program, according to 2024 U.S. Census data.

About 270,000 children across Maryland rely on these benefits, according to a Friday statement from Gov. Wes Moore.

District 3 Prince George’s County Council member Eric Olson told The Diamondback withholding these benefits will greatly impact low-income county residents’ ability to afford food.

“We already have scarcity in a lot of households,” Olson said. “People are going to have to make even more dire choices.”

[Maryland approves $500,000 to settle racial discrimination lawsuit against UMD]

SNAP benefits also flow directly into local business and grocery stores, state comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a Wednesday hearing. More than 3,800 Maryland grocery stores accept SNAP benefits as a form of payment.

Small business owners and employees will be hit hard by the suspension of SNAP, as “those SNAP dollars can mean the difference between staying open and closing their doors,” she said.

Local food banks are preparing for a rise in customer demand as the government enters day 30 of the shutdown.

Why won’t Marylanders receive SNAP benefits in November?

When the government shut down on Oct. 1, no budgets for the upcoming year were approved.

SNAP makes up nearly 70 percent of the USDA’s food assistance budget and is the country’s largest nutritional assistance program, according to the department’s website.

Cuts to the program took effect in July after U.S. President Donald Trump passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cuts more than $18y billion in national SNAP funding, according to Congress.

How is Maryland getting involved?

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined 24 other states Tuesday in suing the Trump administration over the suspension of funding to SNAP. The suit said suspending SNAP is unlawful and will have a negative impact on the nation’s public health and economy.

[Prince George’s County executive confirms new public safety officials]

Moore also launched a federal shutdown loan program earlier this month which allowed employees who are required to work throughout the shutdown without pay to receive a one-time loan of $700 to help pay for expenses such as groceries.

Where can Marylanders who rely on SNAP payments receive assistance?

While they are not a replacement for food stamps, people can receive assistance from local pantries and other food distribution organizations.

At the University of Maryland, all students and staff have access to the Campus Pantry, where they can pick up food at no cost.

The pantry offers a variety of meals for community members experiencing food insecurity, the pantry’s website reads.

The state of Maryland also offers an Emergency Food Assistance Program to families in need, which helps them find food assistance resources based on zip code.

For The Diamondback

On a brisk October night in 1957, Jeffrey Kluger stood outside his Baltimore home and craned his neck up at the evening sky, searching for Sputnik.

A toddler, he stood alongside his older brother and parents, staring up at the sky with no idea of whether or not Sputnik would be visible.

“The very possibility that a spaceship, something from what seemed to be another dimension, from just a whole other environment, would be passing over our suburban Baltimore home, was just gobsmacking for me,” he said. “That night, I fell in love with space.”

Now at 71-years-old, the University of Maryland alum maintains a long and prosperous career as a novelist and science journalist. He is currently an editor at large at Time Magazine, where he covers space, climate and science.

Kluger co-authored the book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 with American astronaut Jim Lovell in 1994. The book was adapted into a movie called Apollo 13 the next year, which he cites as one of the defining moments of his career. The film was rereleased this year in IMAX for its 30 year anniversary.

[Meet the UMD student who was the first African American Scripps national spelling bee champion]

Donn Weinberg, who met Kluger when they were both students at Pikesville High School, has been a supportive friend for 55 years.

“He’s a really interesting guy and a terrific writer,” Weinberg said.

Following high school, Kluger studied political science at this university from 1972 to 1976. He went on to study law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He wrote both serious and satirical pieces for the University of Baltimore Law Forum during his time there.

After nearly a decade at Discovery Magazine writing feature and news stories and the humorous column “Light Elements,” Kluger settled at Time Magazine in 1996, where he has worked ever since.

On July 4th, 1997, the Pathfinder — a 3-foot tall spacecraft — landed on Mars with the intention of taking images of the planet’s surface.

[UMD students name asteroid ‘Diamondback’ after completing research for astronomy class]

Kluger, who had gone home for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, was asked to write about the landing by then editor Walter Isaacson. He returned to an almost entirely empty office and tirelessly wrote a 3,000 word cover story about the spacecraft.

The article he wrote — “Uncovering the Secrets of Mars” — was the July 14, 1997 cover of Time Magazine. It marked the first of more than 40 cover stories authored or co-authored by Kluger, including Time’s 2021 Person of the Year story about Elon Musk.

“I will read anything he writes about space,” said Belinda Luscombe, fellow Time editor at large and longtime friend of Kluger’s. “He understands what a story is. That it’s about human endeavor.”

The film release of Apollo 13 sparked love for outer space in a new generation. Cast and crew members such as Tom Hanks and Ron Howard came together to bring Kluger and Lovell’s story to life.

“I think Jim was born to fly this mission, and I think you were born to tell the story,” Kluger recalls Marilyn Lovell — Jim Lovell’s wife — telling him on the set of the movie.

Jim Lovell began co-writing Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 as an inspiring figure from Kluger’s childhood, but he ended it as a lifelong friend of his.

A man used to decades of fame and accolades, Jim Lovell never let it get to his head, Kluger wrote in a Time remembrance story about Lovell after his death in August. One day, on the phone, he offered some advice to Kluger that still rings true.

“Remember where you’re standing when the spotlight goes off,” Lovell reminded him at the peak of the film’s popularity. “Because no one’s going to help you off the stage.”

The government shutdown began on Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to pass a funding bill. As a result, hundreds of thousands of federal employees are either working without pay, getting furloughed or receiving partial paychecks, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The political gridlock stems from a contentious debate between Republicans and Democrats over extending health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The subsidies, which lower people’s health insurance premiums, are set to expire at the end of 2025.

“We’re in a different political climate,” assistant government and politics professor Breanna Gray said. “We have members [of Congress] who are, I think, more inclined to dig in their heels than we’ve seen in previous administrations and in previous congresses, so we may have to buckle up for a real long haul here.”

The polarized political climate, associate government and politics professor David Karol said, is a contributing factor to the shutdown’s intensity.

It used to be more common for bills to be passed with at least some degree of bipartisanship, Karol said. But recently the U.S. has seen that decline, Karol said, referencing how President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act passed along party lines.

[DOGE website says it cut nearly $15M from UMD grants]

The last lengthy government shutdown was also under the Trump administration and lasted for 35 days in 2018 in his first term.

“It just shows the incompetence of the Trump administration and the Republican Party that under both administrations, his first term and second term, he has had a government shutdown,” said Alexander Randle-Johnson, the university’s College Democrats chapter’s political action director. “It just shows that he’s not really worried about the American people.”

The junior government and politics major added that his ideal outcome would be for the Senate to pass a spending bill and reopen the government without axing the insurance subsidies.

Hannah Vander Wall, president of this university’s Turning Point USA chapter, said Trump’s divisive leadership style likely played into the 2018 shutdown’s length. But she said that is not the case now.

“Our society has become so polarized that I don’t even think it boils down to President Trump anymore,” the junior government and politics major said.

Vander Wall said she would like to see the shutdown end with a deal where everyone’s interests can be represented.

Karol said there are a few different ways the shutdown could end, though he doesn’t expect it to end soon.

One way is if Democrats concede and agree to pass the spending bill without extending the subsidies. Another option would be for both parties to make a deal. Lastly, Republicans could vote to remove the filibuster — the 60 vote threshold needed to pass legislation that allows senators to extend the debate.

If Republicans eliminate the filibuster, they wouldn’t need Democrats to sign off on the spending bill, Karol added.

Associate government and politics professor Kris Miler said Republicans would be hesitant to resort to this solution because when the Democrats eventually win back the Senate, it could be used against them.

[Here’s how UMD community members could be affected by the government shutdown]

“When you’re in the majority, it’s frustrating not to move your agenda because a couple of other people won’t get on board,” Miler said. “You can see where the temptation comes, but because party control does go back and forth, there’s risk in that strategy.”

Pressure to end the shutdown will grow as it impacts more people, Miler added.

The shutdown’s financial implications have also resulted in the federal government using workers’ incomes and lives as “bargaining tools,” said Nick Cosgrove, the co-chair of this university’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter and a sophomore American studies and communication major.

For Randle-Johnson, these impacts hit close to home. His cousin, who works for the Department of Homeland Security, had to take out a bank loan to support herself during the shutdown.

“She’s in limbo, not knowing if she should start looking for another job or not,” Randle-Johnson said.

Gray added that the missed paychecks can have severe consequences on many Americans, especially those who rely on social welfare services. Gray encouraged people to engage with politics and to lobby their Senators and political leaders to push for change.

“When we see the statistics about people living one paycheck away from homelessness, that’s a really jarring concern,” Gray said.

For The Diamondback

Federal cuts to scientific and medical research could lead to massive job losses and economic setbacks. A team of researchers from several universities, including the University of Maryland, is mapping where those impacts will hit.

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project brings together an interdisciplinary team led by university biology professor Joshua Weitz and University of Pennsylvania postdoctoral fellow Alyssa Sinclair.

The interactive map translates information from federal funding databases to show how proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health could affect the economy and employment nationwide.

“Our goal is to demonstrate how these impacts go beyond just individual institutions and actually ripple out to impact broader communities and how that impact is spread out nationally, across the whole country, in red states and blue states alike,” Sinclair said.

[UMD president Darryll Pines discusses federal pressure in State of the Campus address]

The data comes from NIH grants, census records and Grant Witness, which track terminated and frozen grants.

A large part of the researchers’ work has been analyzing information as it becomes available, Weitz said.

“But in other circumstances, when it comes to things like terminations, then we use data sets that are coming from some groups who are really dedicated simply to keeping up with terminations,” said Weitz, who is also this university’s Clark Leadership Chair of data analytics.

In Prince George’s County, the map showed a recorded economic loss of $6.1 million and 27 jobs as of Wednesday, with an estimated future economic loss of $49 million and 211 jobs.

Nationwide, the data shows a current economic loss of $11 billion and 49,000 jobs, with a projected future annual economic loss of $17 billion and 72,000 jobs as a result of the funding cuts.

[DOGE website says it cut nearly $15M from UMD grants]

Mallory Harris, a contributor to the project and a postdoctoral associate at this university, said it is important that this information is shared transparently with the public.

“That’s really important right now, to make sure that people have a sense of what’s happening and that they will be supported even if their research funding gets removed or their research gets attacked,” she said.

Weitz suggested students look at the data and reflect on how the cuts could affect their opportunities.

He said the project aims to provide information for students so they can recognize how local the impacts can be. He hopes students understand even public universities in Maryland can lose previously awarded grants.

In September, the research team received a $336,000 award from Open Philanthropy, a grantmaking organization, which aims to further expand their efforts.

Sinclair said the team hopes to use the funds to look at cuts to other federal agencies.

“We plan to expand,” she said. “We’re also planning to think about other outcomes that we might be able to measure.”

During his biannual State of the Campus address on Wednesday, Pines told members of the University Senate that this university has not received any letter from the education department regarding the compact.

The department sent the 10-page “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to nine major U.S. universities earlier this month. Several of those universities are refusing to sign it, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Pines is a member of its Board of Trustees.

“I don’t see us much different than that,” Pines said Wednesday.

Pines said as one of the university’s trustees, he helped oversee the creation of the letter MIT released last Friday announcing it would not sign on to the Oct. 1 compact.

[UMD community members discuss federal funding cuts, university response at union town hall]

If the universities signed the compact, they would receive benefits including access to federal research funding, the approval of student visas and preferential tax treatment in exchange for agreeing to make several listed policy changes, according to a published copy of the compact.

Those commitments included ending “discriminatory admissions processes” based on students’ identity and agreeing to transform or abolish any university practices that discriminate against conservative ideas.

This university also confirmed in a statement to The Diamondback on Thursday that it hasn’t received any communication regarding the compact. This university is working with peer institutions to evaluate the proposed compact, the statement read.

In MIT president Sally Kornbluth’s letter, she wrote that the university rejected the compact because it includes principles that would restrict freedom of expression and institutional independence.

“America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence,” Kornbluth wrote.

She noted MIT formed a scientific partnership between research universities and the federal government beginning more than eight decades ago, which has had “extraordinary benefits for the American people.” The university still believes this partnership is necessary and beneficial, Kornbluth wrote.

[UMD president disappointed in SGA’s timing of boycott, divestment and sanctions bill vote]

At Wednesday’s meeting, university Senator and fire protection engineering professor Peter Sunderland highlighted this university’s alliance with other Big Ten institutions in a “mutual defense compact.”

This university’s administration approved the senate’s proposal to join the alliance in April amid ongoing federal attacks on higher education, The Diamondback previously reported.

“If you’re able to push back against those restrictions on academic freedom, we’re supporting on the senate,” Sunderland said.

Rutgers University’s senate created the initiative calling on all 18 universities in the Big Ten Academic Alliance to form a coalition to protect their institutional autonomy, research efforts and freedom of speech from the federal government’s influence.

That compact asked all member institutions to contribute to a shared defense fund that would help provide support to any member institution under political or legal attack.

The nine universities asked to participate in the education department’s compact, according to the Associated Press, have until Nov. 21 to decide whether they will sign on.

This story has been updated.

DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” says at least 30 grants to this university have been reduced or cut since January. Grants from the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services comprise a majority of those affected as of Wednesday.

The university confirmed that more than 60 federal research grants at this university — worth about $30 million across multiple years — were canceled as of September. But it was not aware about the DOGE cuts, so is unable to comment on The Diamondback’s finding, a Friday university statement read.

According to DOGE’s website, five grants saw cuts of more than $1 million, and the largest was an almost $3 million reduction to a Department of Homeland Security grant slated to study “terrorism and targeted violence” across the country.

DOGE is a special commission created from an executive order in January to remove fraudulent and wasteful spending at federal agencies. Nearly 40 percent of the federal grants DOGE said it has cut are not expected to save the U.S. government money, the Associated Press reported in February.

Data from the website reports DOGE slashed more than 90 percent of the funds to seven grants, four of which had all their funds terminated.

About 43 percent of grants to this university listed on DOGE’s website were reported to lose more than half their initial value.

The conservative organization created the watchlist in 2016 to identify professors who “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The list includes 10 people on its page for the University of Maryland, though not all of them are professors at this university.

One of the professors mentioned on the watchlist is associate history professor David Freund, who is listed for his writing about exclusionary housing practices and systemic racism.

Freund told The Diamondback that despite the renewed attraction to the list, this type of targeting has existed throughout his career. There is a long history of silencing voices to erase certain stories, Freund said, which is always bad for higher education.

Whether it’s due to the subject they teach, their gender identity or their racial background, Freund said professors are being portrayed as a threat.  

“We all in higher ed need to make it clear that that’s just not acceptable,” Freund said. 

[E-scooter thefts, attempted thefts continued to climb in 2024, UMPD report shows]

Freund said the website was not substantial because instead of opposing or debating the professors’ views, many of the profiles on the watchlist only state opinions that the professors would stand by.

The website has a bio for each professor listed, featuring their photo and often excerpts from their writings or teachings where they’ve expressed their research or views.

In an interview with The Diamondback on Wednesday, university president Darryll Pines acknowledged the inaccuracies in the university listing and said he thought the list has been around for a long time.

He said this university has not asked faculty to change their course offerings or curriculum.

Pines added that the university’s chief counsel released a policy on how faculty who feel threatened or doxxed can receive legal or community support. 

“As an individual, they also have rights to voice their opinions as they see fit,” Pines said. “Maybe they’re not representative of the university, but we do counsel them that in this new world social media, to just be careful.”

American Association of University Professors spokesperson Kelly Benjamin said it’s important for universities to stand up for the academic freedom of their faculty.

Benjamin said lists like these could significantly affect education, such as limiting open inquiry and debate in the classroom.

“This is a blatant persecution, which is leading to sort of a national mob mentality around higher education that is threatening not only the livelihoods of professors, but also their very lives,” Benjamin said. “They’re in fear of being targeted with violence. It’s incredibly dangerous.”

[Aisha Braveboy shares progress from her first 100 days as Prince George’s County executive]

Christabel Cheung, a member of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, is also on the watchlist.

Cheung said Kirk’s organization has caused real harm to professors across the country, and in the weeks following his assasination, that harm has been left out of the conversation.

She was first added to it in 2023 after Fox News reported on a health equity lecture she presented. She said she began receiving harassment on social media and through email, including death threats.

Cheung said the harassment has left a lasting impact on her life. She said she removed her personal information from the internet and has struck her name from speaking events and other work.

“I didn’t care that I wasn’t getting credit for my work,” Cheung said. “I just wanted to stay alive.”

Assistant news editor and administration reporter Sam Gauntt interviewed university president Darryll Pines for this story.