Duke University announced Wednesday it is considering job cuts as part of its strategic realignment and cost-reduction program.
A news release from the university mentions Daniel Ennis, the school's executive vice president, who said, "it is impossible to address the scope of threats to the university’s federal funding without making changes to staffing levels."
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Duke's cost-reduction program, initially launched in March, is university-wide initiative made in what leaders call a “proactive move” to support the university's research, clinical care and teaching missions.
"To assure we are best positioned to continue to support our missions, we believe it is critical to take appropriate actions sooner rather than later to lower costs and strategically realign our operations against lower federal funding levels going forward,” Ennis wrote.
The Trump administration has issued dozens of executive orders, some of which involve freezing federal grants and loans that go to college campuses.
In a webinar on Wednesday, Duke leaders shared an update on the types of employment-related actions the university is and will be taking in the coming weeks. It includes a staff hiring freeze, eliminating vacant positions and voluntary separation incentive programs.
Duke University is the second-largest employer in the state of North Carolina, employing more people than Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Wells Fargo and other large companies based in the state. Only Walmart employs more people.
“We understand that these decisions are difficult, and we are fully aware of the stress that uncertainty can have within our community,” said Antwon Lofton, Duke vice president of human resources. “We are working closely with our leaders to make these decisions about staffing as quickly as possible we continue to move Duke forward.”
Deans, vice presidents and vice provosts working with managers to determine which staff will be eligible for voluntary separation program. Duke leaders said they hope to reduce the scale of involuntary separations later this summer.
Ennis also emphasized Duke will continue to roll out its regular fiscal year-end performance review and salary merit increase program, nor will the Children’s Tuition Grant change.
During the webinar, leaders said Duke has started taking steps to reduce spending by prioritizing cost reductions in administrative operations.
Duke said spending on projects not fully funded or seen as essential have been suspended, including new buildings, renovations and other capital projects. Duke is also carefully reviewing administrative programs such as technology adoption, off-campus real estate and on-campus space consolidation.
“This is an incredibly hard moment,” Ennis said after the webinar. “But each decision is being made with input and discussion about how to best address these challenges while ensuring we continue the standard of excellence that has defined this institution for the last 100 years and will define what we accomplish for the next 100 years.”
Wednesday's news comes after North Carolina State University announced in February it would implement an immediate "pause on all hiring activities" in response to uncertainty about the federal budget.