Northwestern has ended its hiring freeze, interim President Henry Bienen confirmed in an interview with The Daily on Friday.
The University announced the hiring freeze June 10 as part of a “series of cost-cutting measures,” a couple months after the federal government froze at least $790 million in funding for NU.
However, Bienen added that there will still be constraints on the budget because federal funding, while restored through the Nov. 28 deal with the Trump administration, is still uncertain.
“While the hiring freeze is off, it doesn’t mean the floodgates are open — that everybody should get happy and just start hiring like mad, can’t do that,” Bienen said.
He alluded to the end of the hiring freeze in answer to a question at the State of the University address Thursday.
This comes alongside Bienen’s announced intentions to reverse a June 12 decision to end tuition benefits for staff, which he mentioned at the address. Staff petitioned for the return of the Employee Reduced Tuition benefit in the summer.
In March, NU formed the Hiring and Compensation Consideration Group to review the necessity of new faculty and staff positions. HCCG intended to save costs in anticipation of financial uncertainty.
The University disbanded the group Jan. 5, according to a NU spokesperson.
“School and unit leadership are now solely responsible for determining whether a staff position is essential or strategically justified,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily.
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