Northwestern cutting more than 400 positions
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Northwestern University announced Tuesday it is eliminating 425 positions — roughly 5% of its staff budget — in an effort to ensure long-term financial stability.
Why it matters: In a letter announcing the cuts, university president Michael Schill and other leaders referred to the past several months as some of "the most difficult in [the] institution's 174-year history" and said the cuts were necessary to bridge a budgetary gap.
Between the lines: The Evanston school has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, from criticisms over how the school handled campus protests to investigating allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
Flashback: Students and activists set up tents last April on Northwestern's campus, calling on the university to divest from Israel.
- The school reached an agreement with protesters, but Schill did not agree to divest.
State of play: Northwestern has been hit with a federal funding freeze — which the university is reportedly trying to resolve with the administration to release nearly $800 million — but leaders noted that the cuts are a result of more than that freeze.
What they're saying: "These include rapidly rising healthcare expenses, litigation, labor contracts, employee benefits, and a suite of federal changes, such as potential constraints on our ability to enroll international students, as well as likely reductions in research Facilities and Administration reimbursements and in overall federal research funding."
- "Even when federal research funding is restored — no matter what that may look like — it will not be enough to reverse the actions we are taking now."
Zoom in: Of the more than 400 eliminated positions, nearly half are currently vacant, the letter said.
- Personnel costs comprise 56% of Northwestern's annual expenditures.
- The school had already implemented a hiring freeze, changed employee benefits and forgone annual compensation increases in order to create more financial stability.