Harvard curtails tenure searches

Move affects faculty of arts and sciences

Harvard University officials said yesterday that they will postpone nearly all searches for tenure-track professors in the school's largest academic body, a sobering indication of how the economic crisis has hit the world's wealthiest university.

The move by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which also plans to freeze salaries for its 720-member faculty, followed an immediate freeze on the hiring of nonfaculty staff announced last month, dramatic signals of a university scrambling to right itself after its once ballooning $36.9 billion endowment plummeted 22 percent over the past four months. The cuts announced yesterday will take effect next school year and continue for an undetermined period until the budget picture improves.

The halt in filling most faculty openings at Harvard, which many consider the pinnacle of academia, could stymie the dreams of professors across the country who are looking to cap their careers in Cambridge. It also could cause a ripple ef fect across the higher-education landscape if other elite schools take their cue from Harvard.

A Harvard official familiar with its financial picture says the scenario could worsen. On top of the salary and hiring freezes, the university is considering significant personnel cuts, along with program reductions, the official said. Personnel cuts at Harvard, one of the state's largest employers, could dramatically affect the economy in Massachusetts.

On Monday, Michael Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and other deans sent a letter to department heads describing the latest plans to cut costs. Smith presented the plans to faculty last evening during a standing-room only meeting.

Of the 50 faculty searches underway, only 15 of the most essential will continue, said Bob Mitchell, spokesman for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Smith told faculty yesterday that the financial shortfall "could take multiple years, definitely this year and next year" to be resolved, Mitchell said.

The salary freeze applies to faculty and all nonunion staff members.

While some faculty said in interviews that they are willing to forgo raises, others expressed dismay that their departments would have to hold off on most tenure-track and tenured-faculty searches.

"It's just distressing," said Andrew Gordon, a history professor who serves on the faculty council. "It's not as if these faculty are unnecessary to do what we ought to do or want to do."

Other professors said they had braced themselves for the inevitable cuts.

"Everybody just sort of left [the meeting] a little glum, but understanding that the gravy train is over," said Ingrid Monson, a professor of music and African and African-American studies who also serves on the faculty council.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is expected to slash $105 million to $125 million from its current $1.2 billion operating budget in response to the university's plunging endowment, which has lost about $8 billion since July and is projected to fall by 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year.

"The need for cuts is absolutely legitimate, and it's incumbent upon all of us to find room," said James Stock, chairman of the economics department. "I have no problem with a salary freeze. I think that there are many people being affected by this downturn in the economy who are far less fortunate than the Harvard faculty, and I think it's important to keep some perspective."

Across the country this fall, colleges and universities have taken steps to deal with the bleak financial picture, including delaying or halting capital projects and freezing hiring and travel. On Monday, Brandeis University asked professors to voluntarily take a 1 percent salary cut to avoid layoffs.

But Harvard, which unlike most colleges and universities relies heavily on its endowment revenue, has gone the furthest in the Ivy League by imposing the mandatory wage freeze, said John Walda, president and chief executive of the National Association of College and University Business Officers in Washington, D.C. Given the uncertain economic picture, Walda said he expects other elite universities to take similar steps, because so much of their wealth is tied to the markets.

"Harvard's problems are exacerbated by the fact that their revenue model is different," said Walda. "It's unusual to be imposing a salary freeze on faculty, but there will be more institutions that will have to consider it, since salaries are such a big part of the operating budget."

A decade ago, distributions from Harvard's endowment accounted for just 35 percent of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences operating budget, compared to 56 percent today. The faculty's dependence on the endowment has grown over time because the endowment grew at a faster rate than other income sources.

Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., said Harvard's actions are prudent in light of the downturn.

"I dare say that students at Harvard probably won't notice much in their academic programs as a result of the cuts," Hartle said. "In the long history of Harvard, this will be no more than a bump in a very long road."

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a Page One story yesterday about cost-cutting moves at Harvard University incorrectly stated that Brandeis University had asked its professors to voluntarily take a 1 percent salary reduction to avert layoffs. Members of Brandeis's Faculty Senate, not the school's administration, have raised the idea with colleagues.