UC to freeze hiring amid threat of federal funding cuts

The University of California will soon freeze hiring systemwide as it prepares for possible budget cuts at both the state and federal levels, President Michael Drake announced Wednesday.

Drake said the freeze would be implemented “to help the university manage its costs and conserve funds.” He announced the plan at the system’s board of regents meeting.

UC will join a number of universities across the country that have implemented hiring freezes amid the Trump administration’s threats to cut university funding. Other universities that have announced hiring freezes include Harvard University, Stanford University and North Carolina State University.

Drake said the “potential freezing or decreasing of federal contracts and grants” would have a “particularly profound effect” on UC. He noted the university has long “partnered closely” with the National Institutes of Health, which is the largest funder of UC research.

Drake also pointed out that the university is preparing for a state budget cut of nearly 8% this year, which would further exacerbate UC’s budget challenges.

In addition to the hiring freeze, Drake said he was directing “every UC location” to implement additional cost-saving measures, though he didn’t say what those would entail.

“Because every UC location is different, these plans will vary accordingly,” Drake said.

Hundreds gathered on the UC Berkeley campus Wednesday afternoon for a rally organized by faculty in opposition to the Trump administration’s targeting of curriculum and pro-Palestinian student protesters.

The administration has canceled $400 million of federal funding to Columbia University, citing “continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination,” and has threatened to cut funding to UC Berkeley and 59 other universities on similar grounds.

AFSCME Local 3299, which represents more than 13,000 UC service and patient care workers, including about 900 at Cal, and is in the middle of a heated contract negotiation, put out a statement opposing the hiring freeze.

“UC holds billions in unrestricted reserves, has invested billions more in recent years to acquire new facilities, has increased its ranks of high paid executives by 42%, and has granted these same elites hundreds of millions of dollars in obscene raises and housing assistance they don’t need,” said the union’s president, Michael Avant.

Berkeleyside staff contributed reporting to this story.