Harvard freezes hiring as Trump threatens to pull funding

Massachusetts – Harvard University will temporarily freeze hiring as the risk of federal funding cuts by the Trump administration threatens the finances of some of the most prestigious American colleges.

Harvard, the richest US university with a US$53 billion (S$70.62 billion) endowment, is one of several schools under scrutiny for failures to tackle anti-Semitism on campus.

Last week, the administration said it was cancelling US$400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing harassment of Jewish students since the eruption of the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

“We need to prepare for a wide range of financial circumstances, and strategic adjustments will take time to identify and implement,” Harvard president Alan Garber said in a statement on March 10. “Consequently, it is imperative to limit significant new long-term commitments that would increase our financial exposure and make further adjustments more disruptive.”

Harvard said the faculty and staff hiring pause is meant to preserve financial flexibility until leaders “better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape and can assess the scale of their impact”.

The move is the latest fallout for universities confronting an increasingly sceptical Republican Party as well as threats to the billions in federal dollars that flow annually to higher education through programmes like the National Institutes of Health.

Harvard received about US$700 million in federal funding in the past academic year.

Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell have already announced hiring freezes, citing similar uncertainty about government funding.

Even before the administration threatened funding cuts, Harvard signalled it needed to curtail spending.

Its most recent financial report showed operating expenses grew 9 per cent, topping a 6 per cent increase in operating revenue, the second straight year in which costs expanded faster.

Cash gifts fell 15 per cent to less than US$1.2 billion during the most recent fiscal year, amid a surge in alumni anger over the school’s handling of anti-Israel demonstrations.

While Harvard’s endowment returned 9.6 per cent in the last fiscal year, its long-term performance has lagged behind peers. 

Now, the university is in the crosshairs after a new federal multi-agency task force on anti-Semitism said in February it would investigate 10 campuses, including Harvard, that have experienced anti-Semitic incidents tied to the war. 

Harvard is among 60 schools under federal investigation for “anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination” that received warning letters on March 5 from the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The letters reminded universities of their legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students and warned of potential enforcement actions if they fail to comply. BLOOMBERG