This week, Cornell University announced efforts to reduce its budget amid financial turmoil following federal funding cuts.
The university is the largest employer in Tompkins County, employing 11,285 people. Cornell officials did not specify how large cuts or potential layoffs will be or where they will be made.
WSKG’s Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo spoke with Ithaca reporter Aurora Berry about what the news means for people who work and study at Cornell, and the larger Tompkins County community.
*This transcript has been edited for clarity and to add additional context.
Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo: So what’s going on over at Cornell?
Aurora Berry: On Wednesday Cornell released a statement on the financial challenges the university is facing, and the austerity measures that are going to be implemented because of those challenges.
The message included plans to quote “reduce Cornell’s workforce.” The university anticipates that including “involuntary reductions in headcount,” according to the statement.
They didn’t give any more details about how many people would be involuntarily reduced or where those reductions would occur.
PTV: So, “involuntary reductions,” are we talking about layoffs?
AB: That seems to be what they mean by that. They say they would like to downsize through attrition but “anticipate involuntary reduction” in staff across the university.
PTV: Are there other things they’re doing to cut the budget in addition to potential layoffs?
AB: Absolutely. According to the statement, Cornell is reviewing all of its programs, with the stated goal of making things more efficient and reducing duplication of work.
There’s also a plan to review research operations for efficiency, the university is extending a hiring freeze it’s had in place since March, and it is also going to make cuts to things like travel funding.
The university also says it is preparing to unify its information systems, and said they “will pursue opportunities to simplify and consolidate operations and deploy technology where appropriate.”
PTV: Did they say what kind of technology?
AB: Great question, Phoebe. We reached out to the university to see what they meant by that and haven’t heard back yet. Because of predictions we’ve seen on a national level about the use of [artificial intelligence] in white collar positions, I did specifically ask if that included AI. But we didn’t get a response, so we don’t know. It remains unclear.
PTV: What does this news mean for Ithaca and Tompkins County?
AB: It remains to be seen what impact this financial austerity will have on Ithaca and Tompkins County. The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce has Cornell listed as the largest employer in the county.
To give you some perspective on what that means in this particular community, the next nine employers on the list—that includes Cayuga health system, Wegmans, the county, and Ithaca college—they employ around 9,000 people altogether, whereas Cornell alone employs almost 11,300 people.
So what we’ve seen here is a major announcement of financial turmoil at the county’s largest employer by a long shot.
PTV: What should we know about how we got here?
AB: The main thing to know here is that the way that the federal government is interacting with private institutions like Cornell has changed dramatically since Trump took office, and those changes have had a major negative impact on the finances of universities across the country.
At Cornell, we’ve seen the loss or delay of federal dollars for research funding of all kinds: USDA layoffs, cuts to indirect costs with National Institutes of Health Funding, and the cancellation of a reported $1 billion in federal funding, to name a few of the setbacks the university has faced over the last few months.
PTV: It sounds like, from what you’re saying, these financial changes at Cornell have been on the horizon for a little while.
AB: This isn’t the first indicator that we’ve seen of universities adapting to the financial challenges posed by this administration. Cornell instituted a hiring freeze in March that has been extended as part of this financial austerity plan.
And Cornell isn’t unique in this, we’ve seen lots of different universities institute hiring freezes and other measures, including Columbia University’s medical school, Stanford, MIT, and Northwestern.
The other thing is Cornell and other universities are challenging a lot of these changes, and that can be expensive too.
The statement from Cornell referenced the costs of legal battles. Cornell is involved in a couple of lawsuits over the changes we’ve seen. Just on Monday, we saw Cornell join a lawsuit over proposed caps on indirect costs for Department of Defense awards. This is the fourth time that they’ve joined a lawsuit like this this year.
PTV: Is this federal intervention the sole reason for all of the financial stress and uncertainty that the university is dealing with?
AB: It certainly seems to be the main cause of this, but they say there are other contributing factors, citing increased costs due to inflation and the growth of Cornell‘s workforce since June 2021.
PTV: What are you watching for going forward? What questions does this raise for you as a local reporter?
AB: I’m going to be watching how potential staffing cuts impact our economy and the lives of people who live here and are employed by the university.
We've already seen the cost of living rise pretty significantly in recent years, and it’s hard to see this as anything other than a disrupting factor, economically speaking. Although I’d like to stress again that we don’t know the scale of staff reductions yet and what exactly that’s going to look like.
Another thing I’m looking at is the state of universities now that we’re seeing more of a separation from the federal government. Research universities and the federal government have a long history together. What research and universities will look like now that there’s a disentangling happening is anybody’s guess. So that’s what I’m looking at on a larger level.
PTV: Well, I’m looking forward to following your reporting on this. Thanks for sitting down and explaining all of this, Aurora.
AB: Thanks, Phoebe.
PTV: You can keep track of Aurora’s continuing coverage of this news and what it means for the many people who work and study at Cornell, and the larger Tompkins County community, at WSKG.org.
