Harvard’s Hiring Freeze Isn’t Thawing, but There Are Cracks in the Ice

New faculty and staff searches have continued at Harvard — albeit at a lower rate — despite a hiring freeze imposed in March as the University grants exemptions for high-priority hires.

In announcing the freeze, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said the pause on all faculty and staff hiring was necessary to preserve Harvard’s “financial flexibility” as the University faced growing uncertainty over its access to federal funding.

The financial pressure has not abated. Despite a judge’s ruling that restored billions of dollars in frozen federal research funding, Harvard is still bracing for across-the-board cuts to federal grants — as well as an endowment tax hike that could cost the University $300 million annually.

But in the months since Garber’s announcement, some divisions have secured exemptions, allowing searches to proceed in areas deemed “critical” or “extremely high priority,” according to University job postings and several faculty members involved in hiring processes.

At the Harvard Kennedy School, the freeze has been scarcely felt. HKS is currently conducting five active faculty searches, including two newly authorized lines in artificial intelligence and public policy, according to a faculty member familiar with the matter.

Several searches — including in American politics, power and difference, and junior analytics — were approved by Massachusetts Hall within the last year but delayed by HKS’s internal freeze, the person said. Some were reinstated this past fall.

But the approved searches are now underway, placing the school on track for a normal rate of hiring this year, the person added.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on the new hires, pointing to previous messages from Garber that clarified some hiring would occur during the freeze.

In an email to Harvard affiliates in May, Garber wrote that he would weigh “extraordinary cases, such as positions essential to fulfilling the terms of gift- or grant-funded projects.” He kept that carveout in July as part of a message announcing that the freeze would continue through the end of the year.

Still, the exemptions have not translated into a uniform reopening of hiring across the University. Leaders of seven departments under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences told The Crimson they have made no new faculty hires since the freeze was announced.

Staff hiring, however, has continued in a limited capacity, according to a department chair familiar with the matter.

New restrictions now require the FAS’s divisional deans to approve any staff appointments, adding an additional layer of scrutiny to the pipeline but not halting hiring outright. Hires that are typically initiated by faculty — such as postdocs, research assistants, and lab technicians — have generally continued when funding is available and leadership signs off.

Public job postings scraped by The Crimson also suggest that Harvard has not imposed a fierce stop on hiring. As of Thursday, Harvard lists at least eight open faculty searches — down from 37 in 2023 and 14 in 2024 in their respective fall semesters, according to archived versions.

Harvard is also currently hiring across at least 175 staff positions. The open roles include everything from kitchen chefs and email marketing coordinators to officers who handle research compliance and the largest gifts to Harvard.

Aside from the four HKS postings, Harvard is also hiring for professors in applied math, mechanical engineering and material science, environmental science and engineering, government, and housing studies.

The mixed signals have left some faculty unsure whether the freeze remains in full effect, especially heading into the next calendar year. Nearly a dozen department chairs told The Crimson they have not received updated guidance from the University on how long restrictions will remain in place or how many more searches might be approved this academic year.

According to a FAS department chair, FAS leadership are expected to meet individually with several departments next week to discuss proposals for hiring.

The FAS’s ladder faculty ranks have actually grown since the hiring freeze was put in place. This academic year, the FAS employs 744 tenured and tenure-track faculty — 13 more than last year, and its largest cohort of faculty for at least the past decade.

The trend was driven by a high rate of successful searches that took place before the freeze was instated last year, as well as fewer faculty departures than anticipated, FAS dean for faculty affairs and planning Nina Zipser said at a Tuesday faculty meeting.

Harvard has also continued to fill top leadership positions that have stood empty or been held by interim administrators. The University announced a new police chief — Anthony Campbell, who currently leads Yale University’s police department — last month.

And the interim deans of Harvard Law School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education both gained permanent titles after the hiring freeze went into effect.

​​—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.