University of California to Order Hiring Pause as It Braces for Funding Cuts

Speaking at a board meeting on Wednesday, Drake cited the likelihood of federal funding reductions by the Trump administration and proposed state budget cuts as reasons for the decision.

“The value of research universities and of all higher education is being debated and threatened,” Drake said at a meeting of the system’s governing board. “There is a great deal of uncertainty about the future.”

Drake also directed all UC campuses to implement cost-saving measures that could include delaying maintenance and reducing business travel.

The announcement puts thousands of job openings across the University of California in limbo. The UC system includes 10 campuses, six academic health centers and three national laboratories with 26,100 faculty, 47,700 academic positions and 192,400 staff members.

It comes as universities across the US face potential budget cuts with the Trump administration slashing billions of dollars in research funding from the National Institutes of Health, which is being contested in court. The administration has also pulled $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University citing its handling of student protests around the Israel-Hamas conflict.

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In addition to the reduction in federal funding, the university system also faces a nearly 8% budget cut in Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget.

The US Justice Department also opened a civil rights probe into UC over allegations that it supported an “antisemitic hostile work environment to exist on its campuses” for professors, staff and other employees. UC Berkeley is also one of 60 US colleges and universities under investigation by the Department of Education over allegations of “antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”

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‘Existential’ Cuts

Drake said Trump’s cuts to research are “existential” along with any potential cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that would be a “grave threat” to the system’s vast network of hospitals and medical service providers.

Distress at the University of California over Trump cuts also led the system’s top investment officer on Tuesday to call on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, to defend the UC system. Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the univeristy’s chief investment officer, asked Bessent to “please help” UC.

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“If you’re the treasury secretary and you became successful on the back of pension funds and endowments of universities you should have some sweet spot for them in your life,” he said at a meeting Tuesday.