LSU President William Tate announces hiring freeze as part of ‘realignment’

In a letter sent to faculty and staff on Friday morning, President William Tate announced the school would start a hiring freeze and would conduct a review to eliminate redundant positions. 

The hiring freeze and elimination of redundancy is part of the university’s strategic funding realignment, according to the email obtained by Business Report. The announcement comes as schools across the nation begin to grapple with changes to federal funding from the Trump administration.  

“As we face unpredictable and unprecedented federal funding changes and a constantly shifting landscape in terms of our other measures of financial support, we must shore up our operations and protect our current stream of revenue to drive our progress and support our academic core,” Tate writes. 

Other parts of the realignment strategy include convening a committee to explore AI solutions that reduce administrative burdens and enhance productivity for faculty and staff, as well as supporting LSU Online’s goal of enrolling 10,000 students by 2030. 

Tate says the school will also begin withholding 2% of departmental budgets starting in fiscal year 2026 as a safeguard. Departments will be able to regain a share of the withholding by hitting certain goals. 

“This ensures operational excellence and positions the university to withstand potential funding reductions and unforeseen challenges,” Tate says. “However, 0.5% can be regained through hitting specific annual metrics and goals. The initial goal would be removal of student hurdles to progression. Additionally, the remaining 1.5% will go into a strategic fund, which will allow for a competitive process to compete for small- and large-dollar awards to support academic and research initiatives from across the campus.”

Along with the strategic funding realignment, Tate details an initiative to amplify student success and an initiative to accelerate the university’s research.

As part of a research acceleration initiative, the school will launch a new incentive program recognizing faculty achievements in major grants, high-impact publications, prestigious awards, or undergraduate and graduate mentoring excellence. 

Representatives of LSU did not respond to requests for comment before this afternoon’s publication deadline.