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The Harvard Kennedy School is laying off employees and implementing a slew of cost-cutting measures in response to “significant financial challenges” inflicted by the Trump administration, the school’s dean announced in an email to faculty and staff on Wednesday.
On top of University-wide pauses on hiring and merit-based raises, the school will cut costs further by ending its lease on the first floor of an office building at 124 Mt. Auburn St., halting all “non-urgent” construction and renovation projects, and reducing department budgets.
But even with those austerity measures, layoffs were unavoidable, HKS dean Jeremy M. Weinstein wrote in his announcement.
“Unfortunately, those efforts alone will not be enough to address our current financial challenges,” Weinstein wrote. “As a result, we need to lay off some members of our team and restructure other positions to ensure the long-term financial future of the Kennedy School.”
According to the email, managers informed affected staff on Wednesday afternoon.
“This is an extremely difficult moment, and one that we did everything possible to avoid,” Weinstein added.
A Harvard Kennedy School spokesperson declined to say how many staff had been laid off.
Weinstein wrote that the school began planning for budget cuts as early as February, but noted that the Trump administration’s actions have since brought on “unprecedented new headwinds.”
The dean cited not only the White House’s multibillion dollar cuts to Harvard’s research funding but two other looming budget threats — the loss of international students and the possibility of a substantial endowment tax hike.
“I am truly sorry that we need to take this step as we navigate unprecedented challenges as a School and University,” Weinstein wrote.
The cuts resemble similar steps taken by the Harvard School of Public Health. In late April, HSPH announced staff layoffs, shrank its campus, and made budget cuts at the department level.
Other schools have also braced for potential layoffs. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences recently formed a task force to consider potential staff reorganizations and reductions in light of funding cuts. The FAS will also keep spending flat through fiscal year 2026 and pause “non-essential capital projects and spending.”
While Harvard’s government school is less dependent on research grants than the University’s medical hubs, losing international students would be particularly disastrous at HKS, where 59 percent of students came from abroad last year.
And over the past two months, President Trump has attempted to stymy both Harvard’s ability to enroll international students — authorized under its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification — and the ability of international students with Harvard-sponsored F and J visas to enter the country.
Although a federal judge temporarily blocked both of the President’s initial orders, the White House seems unlikely to fold. The administration launched a second SEVP revocation attempt that could take effect after Friday, and students have found their visa applications stalled as the battle plays out in court.
Trump’s 12-country travel ban could also stand in the way of returning and new HKS students. Currently, five HKS students are primary citizens of countries on Trump’s blacklist.
It is clear that HKS is readying for the worst. In addition to Wednesday’s layoffs and budget cuts, Weinstein announced two contingency plans on Tuesday — online course-work and a visiting program in Canada — to implement if a critical mass of students cannot enter the U.S.
While international students remain in limbo, Congress is debating another threat to the University: hiking the tax on Harvard’s $53.2 billion endowment. Congressional Republicans have long floated increasing the tax on private universities — a proposal that University President Alan M. Garber ’76 has called “the threat that keeps me up at night” — and the conservative talking point no longer seems far-fetched.
In May, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill that included a 21 percent tax on Harvard’s endowment. Although the Senate Finance Committee pared the tax down to 8 percent in their revisions this month, that would still be a sixfold increase over the current 1.4 percent tax — and could cost Harvard $200 million next year.
“Nothing will make this moment easier, but I promise to be as transparent and open as I can throughout this difficult period,” Weinstein wrote in his Wednesday announcement. “I hope we can support each other and our departing colleagues during this difficult time.”
—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.
