Mass Layoffs Announced At Stanford University Blamed On Trump Cuts

PALO ALTO, CA — Amid sweeping cuts to federal research funding driven by new federal policies, Stanford University will permanently lay off hundreds of employees this fall.

The university will lay off 363 employees on Sept. 30, according to the latest WARN Act report from the state's Employment Development Department.

In a letter from President Jon Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez, the pair wrote that the university is making $140 million in cuts to the school's general fund this upcoming year.

"This is the product of a challenging fiscal environment shaped in large part by federal policy changes affecting higher education," they wrote.

Roles eliminated span across the campus, including administration, research, student services, campus operations, student services, IT and beyond.

With the WARN filing, Stanford Vice President for Human Resources Elizabeth Zacharias blamed "ongoing economic uncertainty" this year and "anticipated changes in federal policy — such as reductions in federal research funding and an increase in the excise tax on investment income," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Earlier this year, officials at Standrod announced a freeze on staff hiring, expressing concerns about the Trump administration's plans to cut funding for scientific research.

Since then, hundreds of grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have been terminated or frozen.

Recently, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, which increased the university's endowment tax from 1.4 to 21 percent. The stark change could cost the school $750 million annually.

More than two-thirds of the school's financial aid is funded by that endowment.

“These are difficult actions that affect valued colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to Stanford," Levin and Martinez wrote last week.

And this may not be the end of staff reductions, as officials have told the Chronicle that additional layoffs could be ahead if the financial situation intensifies.