Northeastern’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities, or CSSH, department discretionary budgets — or non-compensation budgets that cover items like events and speakers — have been cut to “75-80% less than the average of actual expenses over the last three years,” CSSH Associate Dean for Administration and Finance Jim Rollins wrote in a July department-wide email obtained by The Huntington News. Funds allotted for faculty research as well as administrative staff positions have also decreased.
“I have been a chair for dozens of years in [a] number of different universities. I have never seen cuts of this order,” said Suzanna Walters, chair of CSSH’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program. “I’ve seen cuts [of] 10%, 20%, but I’ve never seen cuts that are so enormous. We can’t have speakers. We can’t have events. We can’t buy pizza for the students. We can’t do anything.”
Northeastern media relations did not respond to several requests for comment about the budget being slashed up to 80% when compared to the average over the past several years.
Department budgets are typically released in May or June for the coming year, prior to the start of the fiscal year July 1, according to one faculty source who was granted anonymity due to concerns of retaliation from the university. This year, department chairs received budgets for the 2026 fiscal year in August.
In the July 1 email, Rollins wrote that the 2026 fiscal year budget would be “significantly more constrained than initially anticipated.” Additionally, Rollins told departments within CSSH to refrain from submitting travel requests, signing contracts, planning events and hiring co-op or non-federal work-study students.
In a July 15 email, Rollins clarified that the non-compensation allocation CSSH’s annual operating budget has been reduced by 75% from the previous fiscal year.
In an Aug. 15 internal email, Rollins announced that CSSH will no longer hire student co-ops or student employees besides stipended graduate assistants. He did not specify how long the hiring freeze will last.
The email also stated that university leadership may make “small changes” to CSSH budgets throughout the academic year and that CSSH leadership would work with departments to “identify sources” of funding to hire teaching assistants for courses with more than 50 students.
The college’s Director of Reporting and Financial Planning Nancy Falk confirmed in a different Aug. 15 internal email that faculty who are tenured or on the tenure track and who don’t have other funds, such as through grants, available to them will receive $1,000 in development or research funds.
According to the anonymous faculty source, in previous years, CSSH faculty have generally received around $5,000 in development or research funds annually. This sharp decrease could have an impact on tenure and promotion, they said.
When asked about the decrease, Northeastern Vice President for Communications Renata Nyul said that funds are typically adjusted each year.
“The level of faculty development funds is adjusted annually depending on available resources. Note that tenure-track faculty in CSSH have access to either start-up research funds or professional development funds,” Nyul said in a Nov. 21 statement to The News.
The budget cuts come as the Trump administration threatens to slash research indirect cost rates and grants and cap international student enrollment. Other Boston schools, including Berklee College of Music, University of Massachusetts Boston and Boston University, have laid off dozens of staff due to budget cuts.
At least one CSSH department is operating without any administrative staff, while others have started sharing administrators in the past year, the anonymous faculty source told The News. Previously, each department had between two and four administrative staff members who helped with finances and events.
“There is an attempt to sort of move staff around without any real consultation with the staff,” Walters said.
The steep cuts going into the 2025-26 school year could be worse, said Christopher Bosso, a professor of public policy and political science.
“While nobody is happy about dealing with budget cuts, the alternatives are worse. We haven’t seen widespread layoffs or pay freezes, unlike other institutions. So things are tight at the moment, but they are not dire. We’ll see how the year plays out,” Bosso wrote in an email to The News.
Bosso added that during his 40 years at Northeastern, he has seen cuts in discretionary spending during times of financial uncertainty.
Walters is calling on the Northeastern administration to be more transparent about why these cuts are necessary and said she has repeatedly asked administrators to provide information on the university’s financial situation.
“We’ve asked for detailed accounting, and we have repeatedly been refused that accounting. I mean, quite explicitly refused it. They just offer vague statements,” Walters said.
She is concerned that the university’s lack of transparency on the issue defies Northeastern’s values as a university.
“We are an institution of higher learning that relies on data. We believe in science. We believe in transparency and accountability. And none of that has happened,” Walters said.
