By SUSAN JONES
Pitt announced today that it will institute a faculty and staff hiring freeze, in response to the uncertainty surrounding federal funding of research grants under the Trump administration.
The freeze will remain in place through the end of the current fiscal year (June 30) and may be extended into the next fiscal year, “subject to an evaluation of our financial performance,” read an email to the Pitt community from Provost Joe McCarthy; Dwayne Pinkney, executive senior vice chancellor for administration and finance and chief financial officer; and Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences. “In the coming days, you’ll receive more detailed information regarding the freeze from our planning/implementation team.”
The University said exceptions may be considered for critical roles that directly support the University’s mission, strategic priorities and essential operations.
In addition to the hiring freeze, all responsibility centers are being asked to reduce non-compensation expenses, including but not limited to avoiding nonessential travel and limiting the purchase of discretionary supplies.
Purchasing Services will continue to review purchases larger than $25,000 and spending outside of University-wide agreements, and overall spending patterns will be reviewed by the Executive Budget Committee.
“The University does not take these actions lightly but, as a leading R1 research institution, we must strategically manage a range of financial pressures, including the evolving research funding landscape, inflationary costs, and the need to sustain our commitments to academic and research excellence,” Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer said.
“We acknowledge the last several weeks have created anxiety and uncertainty for the Pitt community, and we are determined to lean into the University’s mission, principles and values in an effort to chart a path forward. We also continue to work very closely with Pennsylvania’s elected officials to advocate for our University community and ensure we can continue advancing our mission.”
The senior leaders’ email also said that the hiring freeze and other proactive steps are designed to provide flexibility, strengthen Pitt’s financial outlook and “ensure that the University can continue to deliver on our mission and execute on the collaboratively established pillars within the Plan for Pitt 2028.”
Pitt had paused some graduate admission last month, and Stonesifer said the University is working through alleviating the pause on admissions and financial aid offers for graduate students on appointments, in collaboration with the leadership within each Pittsburgh-campus school.
On March 5, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston, who had temporarily blocked cuts to NIH reimbursement of indirect costs last month, filed a preliminary injunction that put the cuts on hold for longer, while lawsuits by 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions proceed. The Trump administration is likely to appeal the ruling.
The University of Pittsburgh has said cutting the indirect cost rate to 15% across the board would amount to a loss of reimbursement this year of $168 million. In addition, many researchers nationwide are seeing a slowdown in funding approval.
Pitt has a large endowment — $5.5 billion in its last financial filing — but is unlikely to use these funds to cover any shortfall.
“The University's endowment supports financial aid, scholarships, faculty positions and research activities…,” Pitt said in a statement. “These funds are meant to last not only our lifetime, but also future generations.”
There are legal limitations on how much of the endowment can be used each year.
“Distributing the maximum legal amount would erode the endowment’s value, affecting distributions that are used to fund student financial aid and other key considerations,” the statement said. “Finally, a significant portion of endowment funds are restricted, which means the funds have a clearly stated, legally binding purpose for the assets provided to which the University must adhere.”
Growing trend
Pitt is not the only university to decide to freeze hiring:
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The University of Vermont said on March 4 that it would pause hiring long-term faculty or postdoctoral positions for the next 60 days. Any staff roles posted on or after Jan. 1 will be removed. The school will re-evaluate the situation at the end of 60 days.
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Emory University in Georgia said on March 5 it was imposing a hiring freeze for staff positions; limitations on faculty hiring; a freeze on compensation adjustments; and significant reductions in operating expenditures.
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North Carolina State University paused all hiring activities as of Feb. 14 in its colleges, senior vice provost and vice provost units, including faculty and staff.
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Stanford University announced a freeze in staff hiring on Feb. 26 — a decision that does not apply to faculty and student workers.
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MIT instituted a hiring freeze on most nonfaculty positions last month.
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UC San Diego, which is also seeing cuts from money it gets from the state, announced a freeze on faculty hiring starting Feb. 26.
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Northwestern University imposed a 10% spending cut on all “non-personnel expense budgets” for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31. In addition, all personnel actions, including hiring and compensation increases, will be “reviewed centrally to ensure they are necessary to the operation of the University.”
Pitt last instituted a hiring freeze in April 2020, just after students were sent home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and faculty and staff began working from home. Later that year, Pitt also offered a voluntary staff early retirement program and retirement incentives to faculty. More than 480 staff and 50 faculty took the deals.
At a meeting last week, members of the faculty, staff and graduate workers unions who are represented by the United Steelworkers met with Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee, members of Congress from Western Pennsylvania, to discuss the impact of delays and possible cuts in funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Tyler Bickford, president of Pitt’s faculty union, predicted the hiring freeze that Pitt announced today. “These cuts impact everybody in Western Pennsylvania, regardless of what area they work in,” he said.
“The biggest thing I want to get across is that is that cuts are cuts,” Bickford said. “Pitt has a budget, and if that budget is cut by $200 million on a short time frame, there is no way for any institution to surgically focus those cuts in areas related to research, and that would be bad enough. But at the end of the day, if Pitt has to cut $200 million from its budget, it’s going to cut that money wherever it can.
“We’ve already seen the pause in graduate admissions, not just in areas that are funded by federal grants, but across the board. In my department, in English, we paused our admissions, even though we don’t receive much federal funding. So if these cuts happen, we’re definitely going to see across the board hiring freezes. We’re going to see layoffs; we’re going to see program closures; we’re going to see tuition increases.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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