University leadership announced nine measures to “limit and reduce expenditures” effective immediately, citing financial stress from federal funding cuts and an ongoing structural deficit in a letter published to its “We Are SC” website Monday morning. Steps include a hiring freeze for most staff positions, restricted hiring for faculty, and a pause to merit increases for most faculty and non-hospital staff positions beginning July 1. 

“Budget reductions for administrative units and schools that were implemented at the start of the fiscal year will be the new baseline moving forward,” the letter read, while the University will direct all departments to “streamline workflows, services, and operations to meet new budgetary targets.”

Other measures include an “intensive” review of existing procurement contracts and new contracts above $50,000, a reassessment of all capital projects, restricting spending on non-essential business travel and entertainment, and an end to extended winter recess, which the University wrote was implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump’s moves affecting higher education include attempts to dismantle the Department of Education and caps on the National Institutes of Health’s funding for research. 

This is a developing story.

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