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Harvard has paused merit-based raises for faculty and non-union staff for the 2025-26 fiscal year, citing financial pressure in light of the White House’s funding siege.
The elimination of merit-based raises — announced on a school-by-school basis over the past week — is the latest sign that Harvard is tightening its belt as the University stares down at least $2.2 billion in funding cuts from the Trump administration.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the University’s most powerful faculty, will also extend its hiring freeze through the summer and pause “non-essential capital projects and spending,” according to an Thursday email by Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra to faculty.
“These are difficult but necessary steps that aid our efforts to preserve resources, while investing in our academic mission and strategic priorities,” Hoekstra wrote.
Deans of the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Divinity School wrote in announcements to faculty that the raise pauses were implemented across the University. Faculty at Harvard’s School of Public Health were informed of the decision at a town hall.
“Recently, all Schools, including HDS, are in alignment that there will be no salary increases for faculty and exempt (non-union) staff in fiscal year 2026,” HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick wrote in her announcement.
University spokesperson Jason Newton declined to comment on the announced measures but wrote in a statement that Harvard “has continued to consider steps that may be necessary as it plans for various financial and economic scenarios.”
While the University is hoping to avert a complete funding freeze in a lawsuit against the Trump administration filed on April 21, the announcements are a sign Harvard’s schools are still internally bracing for a financial squeeze.
Hoekstra wrote that the FAS needs to “plan as if a resolution to this case may not be reached for some time” and warned that even a win in court will not solve all of Harvard’s financial problems.
“It is apparent that this period of disinvestment may not be temporary,” she wrote. “Quite possibly, the federal funding landscape has changed for the long term, with far-reaching consequences for Harvard and for higher education.”
The University preemptively froze all faculty hiring in March, interrupting faculty searches and leaving departments under-staffed. And at the Harvard School of Public Health — the arm of the University that is most vulnerable to stalled grants and stop-work orders — layoffs and budget cuts are well underway.
To determine additional cutbacks needed at FAS, Hoekstra also announced a Funding Priority Committee to determine essential costs and a Task Force on Workforce Planning to “identify opportunities to increase collaboration, integration, and ultimately, productivity.”
The priorities committee will be headed by Biology professor and former Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman, and the workforce planning task force will be chaired by FAS Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning Nina Zipser, according to the email.
In his email to faculty and staff, Harvard Kennedy School dean Jeremy Weinstein warned that the raise cuts will not be the last austerity measure, writing that the pause was one of many “strategic steps” taken by the University to “ensure long-term financial sustainability while preserving the ability to deliver on our core mission.”
“Schools and units are carefully reviewing discretionary spending, the scope and timing of capital renewal projects, new multi-year commitments, workforce planning, and more,” Weinstein wrote, echoing the language of Garber’s March hiring freeze announcement.
“While we recognize that this is a painful outcome, this shared sacrifice is critical to help ensure a stronger, more sustainable future for our institution,” he added.
—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.
—Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at tanya.vidhun@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.
