Facing unprecedented threats by the Trump administration to slash medical and science research funding key to its mission as the nation’s premier public university system, the University of California announced on Wednesday a systemwide hiring freeze to stave off layoffs and downsizing.
Saying American higher education was in a “time of great uncertainty,” President Michael V. Drake explained the decision in a Wednesday letter and during a UC regents meeting, saying the cutbacks would affect nearly every aspect of the far-reaching UC operation, including administrative offices and all 10 campuses.
“The new administration in Washington, D.C., has announced a number of executive orders and proposed policy changes, including ones that threaten funding for lifesaving research, patient care, and education support,” Drake said. Coupled with preparations the university was already making in response to a proposed $396.6-million state funding cut, Drake said he and chancellors were ready for “significant financial challenges ahead.”
The cuts announced Wednesday include a systemwide hiring freeze, delays in maintenance work and reductions in business travel. Drake said he also directed all UC locations to “prepare financial strategies and workforce management plans” to address shortfalls.
The university system has thousands of openings across its 10 campuses, six academic medical centers and 20 health professional schools. At UCLA, there are hundreds of academic jobs posted online, and more than 1,000 heath-related positions in nursing, medical research and clinical, and nonclinical roles.
As a result of jobs unfilled, students could see fewer lecturers and class options, increased wait times to enroll in courses and bigger class sizes.
UC joins a growing list of universities nationwide that are shrinking their ambitions in response to President Trump.
Hiring freezes have hit Stanford, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others. Within the UC system, UC San Diego already said last month that it was implementing its own hiring freeze.
The decision by Drake and university leaders comes as the Trump administration has made multiple threats to de-fund schools under allegations that they waste federal money or do not align with the president’s opposition to racial diversity programs, transgender women playing on sports teams and pro-Palestinian student protests he deems “illegal.”
Last month, UC submitted court documents to support a lawsuit California and 21 states filed in response to deep cuts and a potentially devastating hit to university budgets announced by the National Institutes of Health announcing billions of dollars removed from overhead funding for grants focused on cancer, diabetes and other major disease research.
A Massachusetts judge ordered a temporary pause to the cuts while the case proceeds through federal court.
The threat of losing NIH funding looms large at UC, which received $2.6 billion from the agency out of the system’s $4.2 billion in federal awards last year. San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles campuses took in the bulk of the funding.
At UCLA, about $1.1 billion of the $11-billion budget comes from the federal government, including the NIH, NASA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Roughly $900 million of that is direct federal funding for research and projects that include medical and scientific areas and another $200 million covers overhead.
During a university town hall last month, UCLA chief financial officer Stephen Agostini and campus leaders said they were scrambling to find alternate funding sources and coming up short. “There’s really no way to sugarcoat it,” he said of the potential funding shortfall.
The Trump administration has also threatened to revoke federal monies from universities that do not, in its view, comply with federal antidiscrimination law. This month, federal authorities canceled $400 million in grants to Columbia University, accusing it of mishandling pro-Palestinian protests and ignoring alleged incidents of antisemitism.
UC and several of its campuses are facing an onslaught of federal investigations or warnings — from the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, a new multiagency task force on antisemitism and other agencies — over allegations that they have mistreated Jewish students and employees.
On Wednesday, Drake said UC would still “show up” for campus communities and others that UC aids.
“Throughout our history as an institution and as a nation, we have weathered struggles and found new ways to show up for the people we serve,” he wrote. “We will address these challenges, together. I have tremendous confidence in the team that is working on these issues, and in the dedication of our students, faculty, and staff.”
