Multiple Colleges Impose Hiring Freezes Over Concerns About Federal Funding

Multiple Colleges Impose Hiring Freezes Over Concerns About Federal Funding

Oh no. What is higher education going to do without more new diversity administrators?

NBC News reports:

Universities impose hiring freezes in face of uncertainty over federal funding

At least two Ivy League universities abruptly stopped hiring faculty Monday, partly prompted by fear the Trump administration could move forward with plans to make steep financial cuts in research funding.

Both Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have informed students and staff of the hiring freezes, which became effective immediately.

Harvard University President Alan M. Garber wrote in a memo that the college must limit new long-term commitments that would increase financial exposure.

“We need to prepare for a wide range of financial circumstances, and strategic adjustments will take time to identify and implement,” he wrote to staff members while announcing the temporary pause in hiring.

The hiring freezes come as some of the U.S.’ top institutions of higher learning brace for what could be a loss of millions of dollars in grant funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health for research and studies.

The federal agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the largest public funding source for biomedical research in the world, announced last month that it would reduce its federal grant funding in hopes of saving $4 billion.

It said it would cap how much it pays in indirect costs for research, including utilities and administrative staff, at universities and research centers. Multiple lawsuits have been filed since, resulting in a federal judge temporarily blocking the new policy.

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