Columbia University is firing 180 staff members to address its loss of $400 million of federal funding for how it handled the disruptive protests over the Israel – Hamas War on its campus.
The university’s leadership issued a statement on Tuesday regarding the layoffs and terminations titled “Preserving Columbia’s Critical Research Capabilities.”
“We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard,” the university said.
The staff cuts represent “about 20% of the individuals who are funded in some manner by the terminated grants,” according to the statement.
However, Columbia said it embraces making changes in light of White House demands to retain funding and maintaining its “excellence” of researching. The university is currently working with the administration to address the issues it needs to in order to regain its prior funding.
“We do not make these decisions lightly. We are deeply committed, at Columbia, to the critical work of invention, innovation and discovery. The excellence of our research portfolio is fundamental to our identity, and we are determined to support it,” the university said. “Part of that support means recognizing a changing landscape. Increasing budget constraints combined with uncertainty related to future levels of federal funding for research, including proposed reductions in facilities and administration (i.e., indirect costs) reimbursements, requires us to make difficult choices.”
The terminated research projects, and any staff connected to them, are currently unknown. The White House has given an ultimatum to US educational institutions – including universities – to remove DEI initiatives or else lose federal funding. Columbia is being careful with its allocation of resources, which may also coincide with the White House ultimatum:
“We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard.”
