The schools say they are pausing hiring as they await news on potential cuts in federal funding for things like scientific research under the Trump Administration.
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Brown University is the latest school to announce a hiring freeze amid concerns about federal funding cuts.
In a letter from Provost Francis J. Doyle III and Executive Vice President Sarah Latham, the university said it was instituting a temporary hiring freeze, effective immediately. The school will also institute a salary freeze for members of the president's cabinet and a voluntary freeze on other high-earners, freeze any non-essential travel, and slow down discretionary spending.
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This comes as universities brace for a cut to federal funding from the National Institutes of Health – money traditionally used for research and studies. While a federal judge has temporarily blocked the cuts, the agency has said it is hoping to save $4 billion.
Earlier this week Harvard and MIT announced similar hiring freezes in response.
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The president of Harvard said in a letter: “Universities throughout the nation face substantial financial uncertainties driven by rapidly shifting federal policies. … Effective immediately, Harvard will implement a temporary pause on staff and faculty hiring across the University.”
Sarah Hengal, an assistant professor of biology at Tufts University helped organize a “Stand up For Science Rally,” a national campaign against federal budget cuts. She is concerned about long-range impacts from the cuts.
“Many of us, give our entire lives to the system to be able to just do science and so attacks like this on the system that we work in it’s very unprecedented and not normal,” she told NBC10 Boston.
The issue is starting to play out at schools across the country. The University of Pennsylvania issued a hiring freeze, saying it was facing a reduction of about $240 million in research funding from NIH grants. Other schools taking steps include The University of Notre Dame and the University of Vermont.
