Amid nationwide hiring freezes and slowdowns spurred by the Trump administration’s efforts to slash federal spending, Northeastern has “considerably” slowed its hiring, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan said at a March 12 faculty senate meeting.
Since President Donald Trump took office, pressure has been mounting against universities to mold their academic missions and budgets to fit the new administration’s conservative social and fiscal agenda. Currently, several higher education institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and Columbia University, have altered hiring in response to a loss of federal funding.
“We do not have a hiring freeze,” Madigan said at the meeting. “We have slowed down hiring considerably, but we do not have a freeze at this point. Now, you know, many of our peers do.”
Northeastern’s Vice President for Communications Renata Nyul said in an email to The Huntington News that the university “is placing additional scrutiny on all hiring; suspending non-essential travel and events; putting laser focus on our core academic mission of teaching and research; and looking for ways to leverage our network of campuses, which is unique in higher ed.”
The university told The News March 19 there are no large-scale impacts on co-op offerings. Still, The News identified several cases of students being told a position no longer exists or getting unclear communication from employers, including Cornell University and Harvard.
At the March 12 faculty senate meeting, several senators inquired about the university’s present hiring status. In an interview with The News, Heidi Kevoe-Feldman, the chair of the Senate Agenda Committee and professor of communication studies, said Northeastern has historically been savvy with its budget during tumultuous times. Kevoe-Feldman said she was hired by Northeastern in 2009 when the country was in the throes of a recession.
“Northeastern is always, in my opinion, a step ahead of the game when it comes to managing things like this,” Kevoe-Feldman said of the university’s finances.
Now, the university is preparing its Fiscal Year 2026, or FY26, budget and to closely monitor revenue growth and expenses, continuing a trend seen with recent years’ financial reports. In the past few weeks, the university has not been “immune to these headwinds” of federal funding threats, Madigan said. So far, he reported the university has lost two United States Agency for International Development grants, which are vital in university research and aid for the U.S. and its allies. Moreover, Madigan said Northeastern is closely monitoring the Trump administration’s push to drastically cut indirect costs — expenses that are necessary to support research but are not associated with specific projects.
“Of course, the overarching goal is to protect the academic mission and to protect the core of the university and the core values of the university, and find ways to move forward, keep moving forward,” Madigan said. “That is our goal. But, be that as it may, the budget will be built around conservative forecasts for revenue growth.”
Thomas Nedell, Northeastern’s chief financial officer, is set to present the FY26 budget to the senate April 9.
