This post was updated Aug. 23 at 5:37 p.m.
UCLA has paused new faculty hiring and will consolidate campus information technology services following the suspension of federal research funding, two vice chancellors announced Wednesday.
In an email to faculty and staff, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt and Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Agostini said the hiring review should not affect student worker positions or new faculty hires already in process. Later faculty appointments will be delayed until the university reevaluates its budget, they added in the email.
The federal government suspended over half a billion dollars in research funding to UCLA in late July, alleging that the university has allowed antisemitism, used affirmative action and has a policy that lets transgender women compete on women’s sports teams.
A federal judge reinstated grants from the National Science Foundation last week, arguing that the suspensions violated a previous injunction that banned the NSF from terminating additional UC grants. Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Energy remain frozen.
The email also outlined plans to “streamline” administrative operations, beginning with the consolidation of distributed IT teams.
[Related: ‘One timeline after the other was not met’ – UCLA’s $213 million project is failing]
UCLA’s financial strain predates the federal action, with the university instating a 10% cut to administrative budgets and new restrictions on travel and hiring prior to the funding freeze.
“Through all the difficulties, our mission remains the same: Advancing research, education and service for the public good,” Hunt and Agostini said in the email.
UCLA Media Relations did not respond in time to a request for comment.
Further details on the IT restructuring will be shared next week, the email said.
