Budget pressure inside Harvard University’s largest academic unit is beginning to reshape how courses may be taught in the coming years. As the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) confronts a $365 million deficit, administrators are preparing to cut spending on non-tenure-track faculty by 25% across its academic divisions. The reductions are expected to take effect for the 2026-27 academic year.According to people familiar with the decision who spoke to The HarvardCrimson, the cuts will apply equally to all three divisions within FAS: the Division of Science, the Division of Arts and Humanities, and the Division of Social Science. Sources from each division confirmed that the reduction will be implemented uniformly rather than targeted at specific departments.
A budget decision that reaches classrooms
The change is the latest cost-cutting step taken by FAS as it tries to close a growing financial gap. Over the past year, administrators have been examining academic spending, including graduate admissions and faculty hiring.Last fall, the school already reduced the number of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) admissions in several departments. That move was widely seen as an early signal that deeper structural changes could follow.Initial discussions inside the Office for Faculty Affairs considered cuts as high as 40% to non-tenure-track faculty budgets, according to people familiar with those conversations who spoke to The Crimson. After consultations with department and division leaders, administrators reduced the proposed reduction to 25%.
What the cuts will look like
FAS spokesperson James M. Chisholm confirmed to The Crimson that the university expects a smaller non-tenure-track workforce in the coming academic year.“Given the financial pressures facing the FAS, we are planning for a reduced non-ladder faculty budget, and as a result, a decrease in non-ladder faculty, for academic year 2026-27,” Chisholm wrote in a statement to the newspaper.The change will not involve immediate layoffs. Instead, departments will meet lower budgets mainly through non-renewal of existing contracts and by leaving positions vacant when current faculty depart.Non-tenure-track faculty typically serve on contracts lasting two, three, or eight years. Over the past two decades, their numbers at Harvard have grown by roughly 60% even though undergraduate enrollment has remained largely unchanged.
Smaller programmes feel the pressure
The effect of the reductions is expected to vary across departments. Smaller programmes that rely heavily on non-tenure-track instructors may see the most visible changes.People familiar with departmental planning told The Crimson that the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies programme could lose five lecturers and more than half of its classes. The Ethnicity, Migration, Rights programme may also offer fewer than half of its usual courses.For students, these adjustments could translate into fewer class options and narrower subject coverage in certain fields.
Some programmes avoid reductions
Not every programme will experience the same outcome. The Social Studies programme, which is staffed largely by non-tenure-track faculty, did not receive cuts.According to David R. Armitage, who chairs the programme, the earlier proposal for a 40% reduction would have created serious challenges.Had that proposal been adopted, Armitage wrote to The Crimson, the impact on Social Studies would have been “existential.”“We’re therefore deeply grateful to be able to continue to provide the rigorous academic education on which Social Studies depends and which our students have so greatly appreciated for over 65 years,” he said.Armitage also confirmed to the newspaper that he had written to Social Sciences Dean David M. Cutler in December 2025 to argue against deeper cuts. According to a person familiar with the letter, the programme emphasised both its academic outcomes and the role non-tenure-track faculty play in maintaining its curriculum.
A difficult year for contingent faculty
The reductions come after a year of uncertainty for many non-tenure-track instructors. A university-wide hiring freeze made it difficult for departments to replace faculty whose contracts had reached their limits.Although the freeze is still formally in place, recent job postings suggest that some hiring activity has resumed.At the same time, contract negotiations are underway between Harvard and Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers (HAW-UAW), the union that represents non-tenure-track faculty.According to Sara M. Feldman, administrators initially told union representatives in a December bargaining session that there were no formal plans for budget reductions. She said that by January, university officials acknowledged that substantial reductions were expected, though they did not provide details.Feldman said in a statement reported by The Crimson that the cuts could affect the student experience.She wrote that reducing non-tenure-track positions would “deny Harvard students the curricular breadth and depth, personal attention and mentorship, and extracurricular offerings that are only possible when there are long-term dedicated, but not overloaded, full-time teaching faculty.”
A wider debate about university spending
The decision has also sparked criticism from some faculty members who argue that the university could pursue other ways to address the deficit.Vincent A. Brown, a professor of History and African and African American Studies, said the cuts could weaken course offerings.“I think this is likely to diminish the range and quality of the curriculum, even as the university continues to construct very expensive buildings whose maintenance costs will sap the budget for the foreseeable future,” Brown told The Crimson.Others worry about the long-term effect on teaching and intellectual diversity.Matt R. Saunders said the loss of visiting and non-tenure-track instructors may reduce the range of subjects students encounter.“We’ll have fewer courses to choose from,” Saunders told The Crimson. “There are a few subjects and perspectives maybe that we would have liked to have.”He added that temporary and visiting instructors have long been important to the university’s academic environment.“I think that the ability to have temporary or visiting or non-ladder people in the mix is so important to so many fields in the University,” he said.
The longer view
For now, the changes remain primarily a budget strategy inside FAS. But decisions about who teaches, how many courses are offered, and which programmes expand or contract often shape the academic experience in ways that only become visible over time.If the planned reductions proceed as expected, the next academic year may reveal how a financial correction inside one of Harvard’s largest schools gradually reshapes the range of courses, instructors, and perspectives available to students.
