USC enacts hiring freeze and makes cuts over Trump threats to funding

California university makes changes amid slashes to research funding and investigation over campus protests

The University of Southern California announced an immediate hiring freeze for all staff positions, with very few critical exceptions" in a letter to faculty and staff on Tuesday.

The letter, from USC's president, Carol Folt, and provost, Andrew Guzman, said the hiring freeze was one of nine steps to cut the school's operating budget amid deep uncertainty about federal funding - given sweeping cuts to scientific research, the reorganization of student loans, and an education department investigation accusing the university of failing to protect Jewish students during protests over Israel's destruction of Gaza following the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.