BUZZ
Restructuring aims to close $365 million budget shortfall
Harvard University laid off almost one-third of its social sciences staff affected by its latest restructuring this month, resulting in 75 direct layoffs.
About 15 of those employees were offered a different job or the choice to take the layoff instead. Three other people either got new roles or quit on their own before the official notices went out, The Harvard Crimson reported.
This is more than twice as many people as the number cut at Harvard College the month before.
“The cuts make the social sciences the hardest-hit part of the [Faculty of Arts and Sciences] restructuring disclosed so far,” The Crimson reported.
The layoffs most heavily impacted the coordinator, faculty assistant, and financial associate positions.
“Twenty-two out of 30 faculty assistant, faculty coordinator, or faculty support specialist roles were slashed, and five of 14 financial associate and senior financial associate positions,” according to The Crimson.
The staff restructuring aims to close a $365 million budget shortfall. Last week’s cuts were the fifth and largest wave of job changes since mid-July, after three smaller rounds in May and June.
“Taken together, the disclosures cover roughly 740 positions and show 190 positions affected since the restructuring began in May,” The Crimson reported.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson James Chisholm told the school newspaper that “given the sensitivity of this process and our legal and labor obligations, we intend to publicly release data on workforce impacts following the completion of the administrative transition currently underway.”
Harvard isn’t the only school undergoing serious restructuring. At Portland State University, two academic departments are being eliminated, and 36 workers are being laid off as part of an effort to resolve a $35 million budget deficit within the next two years, The College Fix reported.
The conflict resolution and university studies departments will be eliminated, and reductions will be made to six additional departments.
This comes amid thousands of recent layoffs across higher education.
In 2025, higher education saw 9,000 total jobs being cut, The Fix previously reported.
“Rising operating costs and an uncertain federal policy environment drove cuts at even the wealthiest institutions last year as universities with multibillion-dollar endowments shed hundreds of jobs after President Donald Trump restricted federal research funds, sought to limit international student enrollment and clashed with multiple universities over alleged civil rights infractions,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
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