At least two Ivy League universities suddenly stopped hiring faculty on Monday.
Both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania notified students and staff of the hiring freeze, which took effect immediately.
Harvard University President Alan M. Gerber wrote in a memo that the university must limit new long-term commitments to increase its financial exposure.
“We need to be prepared for a wide range of financial situations and strategic adjustments take time,” he wrote to staff members, announcing a temporary suspension of employment.
The employment freeze comes as some of the top institutions of higher learning in the United States could potentially be lost in millions of dollars as it could undermine funding for grants awarded for research and research from the National Institutes of Health.
The federal agency, a division 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 cut federal grant funding in the hopes of saving $4 billion.
He said that universities and research centers will be able to reduce the amount of indirect costs for research, including utility and administrative staff. Several cases have been filed since then, with federal judges temporarily blocking new policies.
The University of Pennsylvania said it faces a cut of approximately $240 million in research funding from NIH Grants.
“Changes in federal research funding could significantly reduce our operating budget,” wrote John L. Jackson Jr., a university’s provost, to faculty.
He said the policies under consideration and additional federal proposals could also affect school finances, including reducing student loan programs and eligibility, as well as increasing tax tax on university contributions.
Several other nationally prominent schools, such as the University of Notre Dame and the University of Vermont, cited uncertainty with the federal government, seizing employment.
“When we try to understand executive orders, federal agency directives and other policy changes announced over the past few weeks, our decision-making will continue to be guided by our mission as a global University of Catholic Studies,” Notre Dame spokesman Erin Blasco said in an email.
In a statement last week, the University of Vermont said it would reevaluate the employment freeze in 60 days.
In another move last week, the Trump administration said it would cancel about $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University.
The decision had informed Colombia a few days after the administration’s joint task force to combat anti-Semitism, planning a comprehensive review of the university’s federal grants and contracts.
A Columbia spokesman said in a statement that the university is working to combat anti-Semitism.
