Starting this week, the University will notify 48 employees that they will be laid off, University officials wrote in a Monday morning Today@Brown announcement.
The move is part of the University’s efforts to reach $15 million in reductions, which will also include the elimination of 55 previously budgeted, unfilled positions, a more aggressive reduction in operating costs and an end to the University-wide hiring freeze.
It remains unclear which departments will be hit by the layoffs. “The implementation of these measures will take place across a range of academic and administrative departments and offices on campus,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
The University plans to provide support to impacted employees, including severance packages and outplacement services, wrote President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20, Provost Francis Doyle and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Sarah Latham in the announcement.
Brown plans to eliminate five administrative positions across 16 of the smallest academic departments, The Herald previously reported. The financial measures came in response to a multi-million dollar budget deficit and the ever-persistent threat of federal funding cuts.
It is unclear whether these five employees' positions are among the 48 affected positions announced in the Monday Today@Brown announcement.
In an August announcement, Paxson wrote that Brown is anticipating layoffs and further cost cutting measures to address the projected $30 million financial loss. To address the loss, the University proposed splitting reduction measures between “central University actions” and departmental actions, with the goal of decreasing the budgetary needs by $15 million.
Paxson outlined a variety of central University actions to address the remaining $15 million loss. These plans include monetizing real estate assets, consolidating health plans, temporarily pausing spending on plans to move toward net-zero emissions, temporary pauses on facilities renewals and prioritizing fundraising for gifts that have “an immediate positive budgetary impact.”
On the departmental side, each academic and administrative unit head was tasked with achieving an overall 2.5% reduction in their budgets, according to the announcement. But Clark wrote that “areas that are core to Brown’s academic mission — including undergraduate education — were assigned smaller budget reductions than others.”
A committee composed of administrators from University Human Resources, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of General Counsel and the Office of Equity Compliance and Reporting reviewed the elimination of each unfilled position.
While the committee ultimately made the final decision, department leaders developed proposals for which positions to eliminate. Clark said they “considered the impact of decisions as they developed potential scenarios for achieving budget reductions.”
“We want to acknowledge the gravity of these measures for those directly affected by layoffs and for their colleagues,” Paxson, Doyle and Latham wrote.
Several departments have also developed plans for a reduced staff, they wrote, emphasizing that unit members should continue to aim to operate on a lean budget.
Expecting federal actions to continue impacting universities nationwide, the officials wrote, “It’s important to acknowledge that financial uncertainty remains.”
Hadley Carr is a university news editor at The Herald, covering academics & advising and student government.
