Harvard University has announced it is instituting a hiring freeze following several of President Donald Trump’s executive orders pertaining to higher education.
The announcement came in an email to the community sent by Harvard University president Alan Garber.
Garber revealed that Harvard University hopes to maintain “financial flexibility until we better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape,” and added: “It is imperative to limit significant new long-term commitments that would increase our financial exposure and make further adjustments more disruptive.”
“We have asked Schools and units to identify strategic adjustments in their spending to build the long-term capacity needed to advance academic priorities at a time of uncertain revenues,” he continued.
Garber clarified that the hiring freeze will not be permanent.
Several other schools, such as Universities of Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Notre Dame, have enacted similar hiring freezes.
The decisions by these universities to at least temporarily stop enrolling new employees comes in the midst of several of President Trump’s executive orders targeting higher education.
The president’s Jan. 21 executive order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunity,” for example, purges Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the federal government and all associated contractors.
It also specifically cracks down on DEI at “institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.”
[RELATED: Dept of Ed scraps $15 million in funding of DEI-based grants at three universities]
The administration has also instituted cuts to grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, both of which have been accused of prioritizing DEI and political initiatives instead of academic excellence, though some of the president’s cuts have been halted by a judge, at least temporarily.
The current hiring freezes follow other financial woes.
Several schools in 2024, including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, also lost tens of millions of dollars from donors following the campus turmoil caused by anti-Israel activists.
Campus Reform has reached out to Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
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