Scientific society conference includes anti-Trump talks, woke content

FIRST ON FOX: One of the world’s largest and most influential scientific societies held its annual conference last weekend; A Fox News Digital review found it to be filled with examples of progressive messaging, criticism of the Trump administration, and “woke” workshops.

Attendees attending the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) event held Feb. 12-14 at the Phoenix Convention Center were immediately greeted at registration with identifying stickers using gender pronouns such as “they/them,” “xi/xer,” “xe/xem,” and other identifiers that critics argue have little to do with science and biology.

during the meeting opening nightAAAS CEO Dr. Shortly after a 10-minute circle dance routine by traditional Native American dancers, Sudip Parikh told the audience that this had been a “difficult” and “difficult year” for science and scientists in this country.

Parikh blamed DOGE for the “destruction” of “some of our scientific institutions” and “the president’s budget request, which cuts science in half” and, in his opinion, amounts to “losing the future.”

DOCTORS ON MAJOR US HEALTH TASK FORCE ACCUSED OF PRIORITIZING DEI OVER EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE

“What’s happened over the last year is a rupture. We’re not going back, it’s not possible, too much damage has been done, too many things have changed. There’s a generation of scientists who have a scar, a scar that will never go away,” Parikh explained, adding that scars can “make us stronger” and “almost become shields” that “develop resilience.”

Parikh told the crowd that he had warned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last year that he was “the wrong person” to be Health and Human Services secretary, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd when he said, “I still feel that way.”

“It’s going to take protests, it’s going to take politics, it’s going to take the ability to not talk nonsense, all of these things need to come together if we’re going to fight for the legacy of enlightenment, if we’re going to continue to make this world a better place,” Parikh said.

Workshops at the event, which provided gender-neutral restrooms, included a session titled “Mao-Mei Liu: Nurturing Diversity in Science is Resilience” and another session titled “Exploring the Role of Race in Clinical Decision Making.”

Another workshop was called “Who Will Belong? Disability, Power, and Participation in Higher Education.”

TOP MEDICAL SCHOOL MOVED ITS DEI OFFICE TO A SECRET LOCATION BECAUSE IT TRIED TO ‘AVOID RESPONSIBILITY’: LAW GROUP

The 2026 annual AAAS conference provided guests with an all-gender restroom and gender pronoun stickers. (Fox News Digital)

A world-renowned expert in the field of electrical engineering, Dr. Theresa A. Maldonado delivered the president’s speech at the conference and also lamented what a difficult year 2025 is for science and suggested that climate change was to blame for last year’s devastating wildfires in southern California.

AAAS, publisher of the highly respected journal Science, released several more videos over the next few days, including many featuring speakers criticizing the Trump administration and injecting politics into the discussions.

“Colonial Legacies, Climate Crises, and the Erosion of Mobility Choice” was another workshop presented to scholars at the conference and report Alongside “climate justice expert” Jola Ajibade, he described how climate change benefits “a few rich people” and “displaces low-income communities.”

“The heart of my work is to give a voice, but also to bring to everyone’s attention the impact of a range of climate solutions, the impact of those solutions on low-income communities, Black communities, indigenous peoples, Latino communities,” Ajibade explained, adding that he is focused on finding a “decolonizing” approach.

Listed sponsors of the event included the Science Philanthropy Alliance, a group affiliated with progressive consulting giant Arabella Advisors through its New Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports a variety of progressive causes.

“The sad thing for me was when I attended these conferences during the first Trump administration, there was a lot of liberal nonsense, but it was still a celebration of science and the accomplishments of the year, and you left with excitement,” one event attendee told Fox News Digital.

“This year was like a funeral with nothing but moans and groans. Why would people want to come back with something like this every year? I think that’s why their attendance this year is drastically reduced compared to pre-COVID years. Their constant desire to keep politics out of science is completely undermined by their constant whining and endorsement of absolute lunacy. They’re happy for science to be political, as long as it’s left-wing.”

In addition, as lawmakers in the United States continue to warn about the growing threat posed by China and what they believe is the CCP’s infiltration of top institutions in the United States (especially in the fields of medicine and science), the AAAS conference opted to allow the Beijing-based research institute Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to have a booth at the event.

The state-run Chinese academy, which has faced controversy over its ties to the Chinese government and military, cooperated with a Chinese medical technology firm linked to a 2013 U.S. bribery case involving NIH-funded research. The company also installed equipment in leading American research laboratories.

CLICK TO REACH THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION

Protesters are seen outside President Donald Trump’s rally at Macomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)

“AAAS says their organization wants to ‘inspire’ future scientists and engineers, but the session topics and materials in its meetings actually dissuade participants from being confident in their efforts and values ​​and turn the focus on race and ethnicity,” Johnathan Butcher, acting director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.

“These are the same racist ideas inspired by DEI that are banned in universities, state governments, and the federal government because the ideas violate state and federal civil rights laws,” Butcher added. “Policymakers should be aware of what this organization does and ensure that the association does not promote racial preferences in hiring, promotions, or research awards in academia or anywhere else.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, an AAAS spokesperson said: “A broad spectrum of scientific endeavors are participating in the meeting. The topics covered were broad across scientific disciplines and suggested by scientists. AAAS respects First Amendment rights to free speech.”