Pitt implemented a hiring freeze on March 10, which has stoked uncertainty among students and staff about the future of the university. 

Several universities across the U.S. have implemented similar hiring freezes along with spending cuts in order to evaluate and plan financial trajectories. Cornell has cancelled internship and job opportunities, the University of Pennsylvania implemented salary freezes and various other colleges made similar changes. 

All Pitt faculty hires, except for essential personnel, are paused as a result of the freeze. The freeze will last until at least the end of the current fiscal year.

In addition, the announcement from University leaders also stated that the University has increased monitoring of expenses and asked all University departments to reduce spending.

“The University does not take these actions lightly, but as a leading R1 research institution, we must strategically manage a range of financial pressures, including the evolving research funding landscape, inflationary costs and the need to sustain our commitments to academic and research excellence,” University spokesperson Jared Stonesifer said. 

Tyler Bickford, an English professor and president of the Faculty Union, said he worries that the hiring freeze will limit the amount of work that can be done due to the lack of personnel.

“There will be limits to how well the work gets done, and then that’s going to impact our programs, our classes and our students,” Bickford said. “Fewer teachers and staff means fewer courses and programs for students. There may be higher tuition, in addition to less research.”

Bickford noted that the local economy would also be impacted by the hiring freeze.

“There is going to be a big impact on the jobs of faculty, staff and graduate workers,” Bickford said. “Pitt is also a huge employer in Western PA, so [the hiring freeze] will have a big impact on the economy across [the region].”

Bickford emphasized that the hiring freeze was one of the consequences of the federal funding cuts. Pitt stands to lose over $180 million in funding due to the NIH cuts, which drastically impacted budgets.

“The federal government is attacking higher education and trying to cut really important research that’s about curing cancer, finding treatments, supporting veteran’s health and developing new technologies that have a major impact on people’s lives,” Bickford said. “We need to do everything we can to get [funding cuts] reversed.”

Pitt last implemented a hiring freeze on April 17, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020 hiring freeze, Pitt also implemented a salary freeze and more significant cuts in spending and budget to further reduce spending. Pitt also created a voluntary retirement program to further reduce expenses, which led to over 400 staff members leaving.

“It took a long time to get back to normal after COVID, and some of that was programs that took time to be able to get back to fully staffed,” Bickford said. “I could certainly see it being a similar long process to get back to normal if these threats and attacks on higher education from Washington end up being implemented.”

Rishika Sau, a senior health informatics major, expressed uncertainty about the future as a graduating student looking for jobs due to the hiring freezes among U.S. universities.

“It’s all very difficult to process. The more I look, the more uncertainty and fear I feel about the job market,” Sau said. “The job market was already difficult enough to get into without a hiring freeze.”

Ruhani Gill, a senior bioengineering major, said she applied to various PhD programs and found that many had already closed applications or reduced the number of admissions because of funding difficulties and hiring freezes. Gill said seeing this happen has made her feel concerned about her future pursuing a career in academia.

“My backup was to be a research technician for a gap year, but it’s much more challenging to find work now, especially in academia,” Gill said. “I was really excited before this [hiring freeze and funding cuts] to be looking towards bigger and better things with graduating, but now everything is so ambiguous,” Gill said. “It’s hard to be excited about the future now.”