Nearly 600 employees have accepted buyouts at Duke University, opting into a voluntary separation incentive program prompted by threats to federal research funding, WRAL reported.
Duke officials said they also plan to start involuntary layoffs in August, even though 599 staff members took buyouts. Another 250 faculty members are also reportedly considering opting in.
“We have asked all schools and units to reassess their budgets and identify any further non-personnel expense reductions that can be made,” university officials wrote in a message to campus obtained by WRAL. “These assessments will determine the scale of involuntary staff reductions, which will take place in August. For those staff who are funded by research grants, reductions in force occur regularly through the year based on availability of research funding.”
Duke announced a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting measures in March. At the time, President Vincent Price noted the need for a strategic realignment, arguing the institution needed to “adopt new ways of operating in order to fulfill our teaching, research, and clinical care missions with reduced federal funding in the future.” He called the changes necessary for Duke’s long-term “operational and financial health.”
Concerned about the potential for serious federal research funding cuts that would hobble Duke’s mission, Price has said the university is looking to cut $350 million in operational costs.
Duke has already lost millions in federal research funding this year.
Beyond cutting research funding, the Trump administration has reportedly taken aim at Duke in other ways as well. The Wall Street Journal reported that Duke is one of several wealthy universities that the federal government is pressuring for a payout, similar to the deal Columbia University struck last week, when the Ivy League institution agreed to settle for $221 million and make a series of sweeping changes to close investigations into allegations of campus antisemitism.
