Harvard urges researchers to limit spending, cease hiring if projects are affected by Trum
April 16, 2025
Guidance comes after the administration moved to freeze more than $2 billion in federal funds for the university
Harvard University urged researchers whose grants are frozen by the Trump administration to immediately cease hiring, limit spending to “essential needs only,” and pause all active equipment purchases, according to internal guidance from a top administrator at the university.
Researchers were also urged to continue charging costs for the next month, though Harvard would not be seeking to draw down the costs from the federal government, according to the emailed guidance, which was shared with the Globe.
“In light of the federal government’s unprecedented action to freeze federally sponsored research funding, we must take steps to prepare to secure critical elements of our research portfolio to the extent we are able,” wrote Harvard University’s vice provost for research, John Shaw, in the email, which was sent to research leads throughout the university. “While there will inevitably be important research that will suffer as a result of the funding freeze, we are asking for your help in assessing how best to preserve vital work and support our researchers, while using institutional resources responsibly through this disruption.”
Shaw said school finance and other offices will work closely with researchers to evaluate the feasibility of the measures and the appropriate response for each project. “This is meant to stabilize the research environment while we gather information, coordinate decision-making, and strive to protect what matters most,” he wrote.
The guidance reflects the dire funding challenges that lay ahead for the nation’s oldest university. It came a day after the Trump administration’s task force on antisemitism said it is cutting more than $2 billion in research funding to Harvard. The funding freeze includes $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts, according to the task force, which is a joint enterprise of several federal agencies.
That move to freeze funding came hours after Harvard’s leaders defied the Trump administration’s attempt to impose an extraordinary set of policy changes on the university. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote in an open letter responding to the demands Monday afternoon.
Harvard-affiliated researchers have already begun receiving stop-work orders on contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.
Scott Delaney, a research scientist in environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the email reflects the “chaotic nature” of the Trump administration’s actions.
“We don’t yet know which grants will be targeted, and it’s never been clear why the government targets some grants and not others,” he said. “So it’s left to us to organize the chaos they create and then respond to it.”
Chris Serres can be reached at chris.serres@globe.com. Follow him @ChrisSerres.
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