Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies were officially kicked out of their Columbia University laboratory this week in one of New York City’s best-known locations.
The Morningside Heights building — which also houses Tom’s Restaurant, the diner made famous by "Seinfeld" — has housed the Goddard program since 1966. But after the Trump administration canceled the lease last month, scientists are being told to work from home.
The move follows reports that the administration will cut the budget of NASA’s science arm by nearly 50%. And it comes amid a broader crackdown on scientific research and higher education. Columbia in particular has attracted the Trump administration’s ire after becoming the national epicenter for protests last year over the war in Gaza.
On Tuesday, a gaggle of sullen scientists looked on as movers rolled carts of filing boxes and equipment out of the building. They had been instructed not to speak with the press.
Matthew Biggs — president of IFPTE, NASA’s largest union — said the move has little to do with economics or science.
“We have a rogue administration here and they make no bones about seeking revenge on what they believe are political enemies,” he said on Tuesday. “They’re not happy about climate research, and we know how they feel about Columbia. So you’d be naive not to think that they’re being targeted purposely ‘cause of that.”
Boxes being moved out of the GISS lab.
The GISS focuses on predicting atmospheric and climate changes. It stores NASA’s weather data, which dates back to 1880 and is one of the most direct benchmarks for tracking the Earth’s temperature. The latest article to come out of the institute analyzes the climate and habitability of exoplanets.
A NASA spokesperson wrote to Gothamist that shuttering the lab is meant to increase efficiency as the Trump administration reviews all of its leases. A White House spokesperson referred to the same statement.
Biggs was adamant that the move will not save taxpayers any money. He said that while NASA’s lease is canceled, the agency has long subleased the building from the General Services Administration, which in turn pays Columbia. The GSA’s $3 million a year lease runs through 2031. Until then, the lab spaces in Armstrong Hall will sit empty.
It is unclear if the GSA plans to break its lease or sublet the building. The agency did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and Columbia University also declined to comment.
The NASA spokesperson wrote that GISS employees will be placed on remote work agreements while NASA finds a new space for the institute.
Faraz Khan, the union’s legislative director, said he was skeptical that they could do any work from home.
“They’re not gonna have access to the high-performance computing that they need to run the climate models they have here,” he said. “They’re not gonna have the physical workspace where they collaborate.”
Columbia postdoctoral researchers also worked in the lab, but they will now have to find other workspaces.
“It’s really disruptive — a lot of people oriented their lives around working here,” said Andrew Little, president of the university’s postdoc union.
