WSU students took part in a peaceful protest outside the Compton Union Building Monday to protest the United States Agency for International Developments cuts that began Feb. 7.

USAID, which has locations in more than 60 countries, will soon be forced to put thousands of employees on leave, according to the BBC.

The program provides food to countries facing food insecurity. These countries are determined using a famine detection system that predicts where food shortages will emerge.

USAID spends a substantial amount of its budget on health programs, including offering polio vaccinations in areas where the disease continues to circulate.

Partners In Health Engage at WSU met with senior microbiology student Erin Smith to organize this demonstration.

Smith heard about the cuts and emailed around before hearing back from PIHE. Together, they organized the peaceful protest.

“I was going in to class one day and I heard about the defunding potential, like the defunding of NIH, and it made me realize that this is starting to become a systemic takedown of anything that has brought good benefits to our democracy and our education, along with important public health policies,” Smith said.

Smith said she is worried about what the cuts mean for the future of American healthcare if important information is no longer available.

“People need to be aware of when diseases are spiking [and] recent treatment options that have been discovered,” she said. “People need to know this information, and by censoring important public healthcare agencies, you are crippling one of the most essential parts of our country.”

PIHE President Nicole Merini said the goal of the protest was to make people aware of what is happening.

“We’re really just trying to build a community here and teach people what’s actually going on and show them that you can actually make a difference, even if it’s just a protest,” Merini said.

She also said PIHE will be speaking to Rep. Michael Baumgartner, from Washington’s 5th Congressional District, about the cuts.

“We’re going to talk to him about foreign aid cuts, USAID cuts and the silencing as well. Hopefully [we will] get something done there–some sort of communication, some sort of learning,” Merini said.

USAID is one of many programs to be cut under the Trump Administration at the direction of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.

Merini worries about why these programs have been cut or frozen and what the goal of freezing them is.

“I think transparency is super important in the government,” she said. “Why did you pause [USAID] and what are the results? We haven’t gotten results and we need results.”

Hundreds of programs have already been halted across the globe, according to the BBC.