Duke University is preparing for more voluntary layoffs, and the possibility of involuntary separations throughout the summer.
In a recent video, Duke President Vincent Price said federal funding changes have “dire implications” for that university.
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"We will, for the foreseeable future, have to be smaller—and do our work with fewer people,” Price said.
Price said funding threats impact research, tax payments, and the staff that can stay.
"It is likely we’ll come to a point where we’ll need to engage in involuntary reductions in staff; but first we are trying to do as much as possible through a voluntary process,” Price said. “Eligible faculty members will receive information from their schools about new, again voluntary, retirement incentives that are being offered across the university."
Some groups are raising concern about how transparent this process is - pointing to similarities they see between Duke's layoffs, and ones conducted at the federal government level by DOGE.
A letter titled “Duke, Don’t DOGE!” has about two dozen groups signed on. It pushes for top earners to take a pay cut and more participatory budgeting.
Professor Michael Hardt is part of the Duke Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, one of the groups that signed onto the letter.
"It's an expression of indignation about what is happening,” Hardt, a professor of literature, explained.
The letter says the university is protecting institutional wealth, rather than it’s people, accusing Duke of "institutional hoarding.”
It also questions the use of the word “voluntary” to describe the separations.
"Many of the staff people who receive these letters see it as a kind of blackmail," Hardt said. "You're offered a voluntary separation with extra pay based on your time of service, but you know that soon there will be firings without that extra pay. So, a staff person can think, either I take this voluntary separation, or I could be fired with no compensation, or one of my colleagues could."
The letter asks for more input on decision making, including the budget.
Hardt said openness is important, especially in a time of major change.
"When the universities are being transformed so profoundly, I think that it is very important that it be done well and that it be done with a kind of openness and participation that could help it be done better,” he said.
He also said he wants to see Duke take more action in the wake of the cuts.
"I think that it's important for us to stand up, to stand up together with other universities, not to only act behind the scenes, but to act in public to protest the ways that universities are being attacked and targeted by the federal government,” Hardt said.
Duke is not the only university in our area feeling the pinch.
Other schools, like NC State, have implemented hiring freezes, and in a March meeting, the CFO of UNC Chapel Hill was focused on cost control.