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ST. LOUIS 鈥� Faculty members called on Washington University leaders to provide more details on the reasons behind the elimination of 300 campus jobs, saying the administration鈥檚 talk of 鈥渋nternal decisions鈥� have only added a growing sense of frustration among staff and uncertainty for some students.

Faculty who spoke with the Post-Dispatch Wednesday said they are looking for more answers as to why the university made the 鈥渄ifficult steps,鈥� as the chancellor put it in a Tuesday announcement, to eliminate 316 staff positions and close 198 unfilled vacancies.

Seth Graebner, president of WashU鈥檚 chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said faculty are looking for specifics.

鈥淭he new message from administration promises transparency about the difficulties the university is facing, but it attributes the staff reduction to 鈥榠nternal decisions and structures鈥� without saying what those are,鈥� Graebner said.

Chancellor Andrew Martin, in his announcement posted to the university鈥檚 website Tuesday, said the reductions would allow WashU to maintain a 鈥渟ustainable path forward鈥� as the university grapples with the loss of federal grants and other outside funding. He also blamed internal issues that derived from 鈥渋neffective processes and redundancies鈥� over time.

The cuts were made to WashU鈥檚 Danforth and medical campuses, as well as its 鈥渃entral fiscal unit,鈥� which refers to administrative divisions outside of the university鈥檚 individual schools, including IT and police.

Tuesday鈥檚 announcement followed calls for university leaders to explain the job cuts made since March. Before, employees learned of spending reductions in piecemeal fashion.

Various units over the last several months had made internal announcements of spending reductions, citing 鈥減otential federal changes,鈥� a 鈥渟hifting higher education landscape鈥� and 鈥渟ignificant financial challenges.鈥�

Arts & Sciences announced cuts of 12% to all academic department operating budgets and cuts of 20% or more to the number of PhD stipends in each department. McKelvey School of Engineering鈥檚 dean said 25 positions had to be cut. StudLife, WashU鈥檚 student newspaper, has reported two long-time university librarians were .

Few employees received cost-of-living increases this year, after Martin said a halt was required to help ensure 鈥渓ong-term institutional stability.鈥�

WashU鈥檚 latest financials, for the fiscal year that ended June 30, have yet to be released, but internal and public communications by university leaders indicate the school has been concerned about a budget deficit.

CFO David Gray, in a May 14 email co-signed by other top brass, cited 鈥渃hallenges of revenues short of our spending aspirations.鈥�

In a to faculty and staff, Martin said he anticipated WashU would break-even as it closed the books on fiscal year 2025.

鈥淲ith that said, we have identified some structural budget challenges that WashU must address,鈥� Martin said.

A review of the university鈥檚 audits over the past 10 years shows expenditures have slightly outpaced revenue growth, but WashU still ended last fiscal year with a $150 million operating surplus.

The American Association of University Professors has circulated a petition among faculty, calling on WashU鈥檚 chief financial officer to provide details on WashU鈥檚 financial situation at a special session of the faculty senate later this month.

There has been public speculation among faculty that WashU made unsustainable investments after an unprecedented 65% return on the university鈥檚 endowment in 2021. WashU subsequently invested $1 billion in financial aid and went 鈥渘eed blind,鈥� meaning it did not take into account students鈥� ability to pay tuition when it accepted them. It also adopted a that removed federal loans from undergraduate financial packages and replaced them with scholarships and university grants.

WashU has spent about $33 million more on financial aid since June 2022, financial disclosures show.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 pretty clear the university spent more money than was justified by its actual financial results, and many faculty would like to know what was that decision-making process, what assumptions went into it, and what the administration will do in the future to prevent such things from happening again,鈥� Graebner said.

Gary Stocker, a 最新杏吧原创-based higher education analyst and founder of , said elite universities across the country are using revenue from layoffs to subsidize research.

He suggested some elite universities, such as WashU, may be using federal turmoil as a scapegoat to eliminate bloat.

鈥淚n my opinion, there鈥檚 a likely scenario where many of those research funds come back,鈥� Stocker said. 鈥淭he question is, will those, like WashU, who laid people off, bring them back? Or are they using this as an opportunity to cut expenses that they otherwise would not have?鈥�

Students are watching the reductions unfold with unease.

One international graduate student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern about retaliation by the government or university, said news of the job cuts compounded a sense of fear created by the Trump administration鈥檚 attempts to curb immigration.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no transparency about why,鈥� the student said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 stressful because the government is so unpredictable, and now the university is unpredictable, too.鈥�