In a letter to the Harvard community, Harvard president Alan Garber said the university would hit pause on hiring faculty and staff university-wide as federal policies play out. He underscored that the freeze is a temporary, not long-term, solution to “uncertain revenues.”

Like Columbia University, Harvard was among the schools whose leadership testified on Capitol Hill to defend their approach to campus protests.

The UC announced it would implement a systemwide hiring freeze in response to recent federal and state policies which threaten to cut the University’s budget. UC President Michael Drake announced the move in a Wednesday email,

As the Trump administration threatens to pull federal funds from universities, including for medical and scientific research, the University of California has announced a hiring freeze and additional cuts.

Some of the executive orders and proposed policy changes by President Donald Trump have threatened the institution’s “lifesaving research, patient care, and education support,” Drake said. On the state level, the 2025-26 California budget is poised to cut the UC’s funding by $271 million.

UC President Michael Drake wrote a letter to students and faculty announcing the hiring freeze and other cost-saving measures.

The University has instituted a hiring freeze for most faculty and staff, according to a memo released to the University community on Wednesday morning.

The move follows the cancellation of roughly $400 million in funding for Columbia and the suspension of $175 million for the University of Pennsylvania.