Updated at 5:52 p.m.
The University of Vermont instituted a 60-day hiring freeze Tuesday in response to recent federal actions that could affect its funding, according to a memo from school officials.
University leaders shared the information with deans, directors and department chairs in an internal memo dated March 4, calling it “a difficult but necessary step” to respond to changes implemented by the Trump administration.
“With multiple federal funding sources for university operations facing proposed reduction or alteration, and outcomes of several federal actions uncertain, the university will pause general hiring for all long-term faculty, staff and postdoctoral positions, effective immediately and extending for 60 days,” states the memo, which came from Linda Schadler, acting provost and senior vice president; Richard Cate, vice president for finance and administration; and Chris Lehman, chief human resource officer.
Although job offers already made will be honored, according to the memo, the freeze pauses the hiring of all long-term faculty, staff and postdoctoral positions, which are expected to be reevaluated after the 60-day period.
The university can make exceptions for essential positions “deemed compliance, safety or mission critical,” the memo states, noting that the administration may continue to fill essential temporary positions on an “as needed” basis.
Cate said the university is bracing for impacts to its research funding, “but the challenge is that it will affect the entire university,” including its general fund. “But there are so many unknowns we don’t know to what degree any of that’s going to occur. It sure makes it a challenge,” he said in an interview Wednesday evening.
University spokesperson Basil Waugh said in an email earlier Wednesday that the pause “is a measure of fiscal prudence given the current uncertainty facing U.S. higher education institutions.” He noted that other institutions have also announced freezes. “We have over 110 jobs posted, but the total impact is not yet known, as units can apply for exemptions by the deadline.”
As of Wednesday morning, there were 131 jobs open on the university’s career portal. The memo states that positions posted this year will be removed and positions posted before Jan. 1 will be closed at 4:30 p.m. on Friday “unless an essential hire request form has been completed and approved to keep the position open.”
Waugh said the memo was sent to all deans, directors and department chairs and posted on the university’s human resources website late Tuesday afternoon.
It states that an update would be provided in April.
The decision is going to have “very real consequences,” said Ellen Kaye, co-president of UVM Staff United, which represents roughly 1,500 staff on campus.
Staff have already been contending with vacancies, Kaye said, which she attributed to “chronically low pay and low offers.”
“What this means to us is that there are departments, including my own, where we are taking up the slack from unfilled positions,” said Kaye, a cataloguer at the Howe Library.
The union, which was not directly informed of the hiring freeze, is concerned about the haste of the decision and the justification behind it, according to Kaye. “We have had no evidence, nothing presented that says that any of UVM funds have been curtailed,” she said.
Katlyn Morris, executive director of United Academics, said faculty members have not heard directly from university leadership either. Both unions took issue with that lack of communication.
“There are many faculty hiring processes underway that this will thwart. This will certainly have an impact on programs, operations, and morale,” she said in an email.
United Academics represents roughly 900 faculty at UVM and is an affiliate of AFT Vermont.
Cate said the university will send information to the broader school community within “the next day or so, but what we’ve been doing is hoping for more details” from the federal government.
Responding to current staffing, retention and morale issues, he said, “We have to have money to pay people if we’re going to hire.”
“At this point, there is a very, very likely chance that the amount of money we have will be reduced substantially,” he said.
He said he understands the anxiety faculty and staff are facing and said the uncertainty is hard for all in the UVM community, including university leadership. “I think that turmoil in Washington has kind of created challenges for everyone,” Cate said.
The White House Office of Management and Budget’s broad memo to freeze federal funds – including grant, loan and other financial assistance programs – sent shockwaves through higher education institutions but has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. Matthew Vaeth, acting director of OMB then rescinded the funding freeze memo on Jan. 27, a day before it was supposed to go into effect, CBS News reported.
The memo specifically targeted funding activities that “may be implicated by the executive orders, including but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
President Donald Trump has also made clear that he wants to close the U.S. Department of Education, which plays a key role in distributing federal funds, such as $1.6 trillion in student loans and about $30 billion in Pell Grants for lower-income college students.
UVM leaders, in their memo, acknowledged that a freeze would affect operations and asked for “cooperation and understanding as we await clarity and learn more about how we can best position the university for success in this changing environment.”
“As we implement this pause, we need your help minimizing disruption to the teaching, research and engagement mission of the university. This will require our collective goodwill, creativity, and flexibility,” the memo further notes.
