The University of Michigan is making budget, spending, and hiring changes to "buffer against negative, long-term impacts" of what it believes are likely federal funding cuts ahead.
The changes include:
- Re-examine capital projects for buildings and renovations;
- Require all non-essential spending over $50,000 to be approved by U of M President or his executive VPs;
- Require new staff and faculty hires to be approved by the U of M President or his executive VPs; and,
- Ask departments to voluntarily rein in spending on travel, conferences, and consultants.
That was the message from U of M President Santa Ono to faculty and staff this week, specifically mentioning "legal notice from a federal agency instructing us to stop work on a multimillion-dollar project." Ono said he expected it to be the first of what will likely be many such orders.
Last week, the Social Security Administration cut ties with a consortium of six programs across the U.S. that conducted research, training and education for the SSA on retirement, disability and Social Security topics. One of the programs, the Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center, was at the University of Michigan.
SSA said the programs were targeted because they fell afoul of President Donald Trump's executive order banning federal funding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Michigan Public reached out to U of M Regents for comment. U of M Regent Jordan Acker responded.
"I am concerned when any research project, across our campuses, are stopped for any political reason," he said in an email. "I expect our University to stand up for what it does best: improving the lives of Michiganders from across our state through groundbreaking research and medical care."
Ono said the University maintains a strong financial position, but has spent recent weeks modeling scenarios, and "taking prudent actions to be as prepared as possible to respond to financial events that may lie ahead."
The University's health system, Michigan Medicine, will be subject to a separate guidance, Ono said, which will be forthcoming.
