Columbia proposes plan to slash teaching and research labor force, neglecting core missions
SWC seeks to unite with constituents on campus to fight against unwarranted austerity that harms university’s core missions.
February 1, 2025 – Columbia University proposes cutting incoming PhD cohorts in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences by up to 65%, according to faculty sources. Columbia University’s austerity measure furthers its ongoing divestment from its educational mission to maximize revenue from fossil fuels, military weapons, and Columbia’s real estate empire.
Student workers are critical to teaching and research at the University. They serve as preceptors of Core Curriculum classes, which the university advertises as the “defining element of a Columbia College education”; as teaching assistants, offering students much needed individual attention given Columbia’s large class sizes; and as members of research teams making cutting edge discoveries. With up to 65% fewer graduate student workers, undergraduates will be stuck in larger classes and receive less feedback. The University will suffer a marked decrease in research output.
There is no financial need for funding cuts. The endowment has grown from $13.6 billion in 2023 to $14.9 billion at the close of 2024. In terms of operating activities, it reported nearly $305 million in net cash flow in the past fiscal year alone. Executive salaries at Columbia have likewise skyrocketed. According to the latest available data, former President Lee Bollinger earned $3,865,304 in total compensation in 2021, gaining a 61% pay bump during the first year of the COVID pandemic.
PhD workers of Columbia, on the other hand, gained 3% yearly increases in salary between 2021 and 2024. A fourth of the aforementioned 2024 surplus of $305 million would be enough to support an additional 1,000 PhD workers at living-wage level. The University has the ability to truly commit to its avowed values by paying its workers a living wage and expanding, not retrenching, the educational and research workforce.
“The university’s entire investment strategy is itself a choice—and a recent invention—geared not towards caring for the university environment, but towards maximizing the growth of the endowment,” says Dylan Felt, 2nd year PhD researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
The timing has caused workers to speculate that the cuts are a part of a coordinated union busting effort, as they come amidst negotiations for a new contract. Undermining the union will not only help the University hoard wealth, but also ingratiate itself with the Trump administration. Within days of taking office, Trump severely undermined federal protection for organized labor by firing key officials of the National Labor Relations Board. He has also repeatedly called for repression of campus activism in support of both diversity initiatives and Palestinian liberation.
After the release of Columbia’s plan to cut PhD programs, intense pushback has caused the administration to change course rhetorically. In a January 30th email to the faculty, Provost Angela Olinto vaguely states that the administration will “increase the cohort incoming in fall 2026 to the extent possible.” Columbia’s backpedaling proves that protests against the administration’s unilateral decision-making is effective, but concerned constituents must keep up the pressure to hold top executives accountable.
SWC will continue to fight against the university’s neglect of its core responsibilities. Our goal is to revitalize Columbia University as a hub for teaching and research, as well as a good neighbor to the Harlem community. During our upcoming negotiation for a new labor contract, we will demand fair compensation and shared governance. We invite students, staff, adjuncts, faculty, and all concerned individuals to join us in organizing.
*Correction: An earlier version of the press release misquoted Provost Olinto’s email. She wrote that the administration will “increase the cohort incoming in fall 2026 to the extent possible,” not fall 2025. We regret the mistake and apologize for the inconvenience.