Stanford University Lays Off 363 Employees, Citing Trump Cuts

Stanford University is laying off hundreds of employees as part of sweeping budget reductions forced by federal policies championed by the Trump administration, according to documents filed by the school.

The layoffs will impact 363 staff members across departments, cutting roles in administrative services, research, facilities, communications, libraries, marketing and student services — according to a list Stanford provided to the state as part of required worker layoff notification filing, known as a WARN notice. The layoffs include workers in the School of Medicine, although it appears educators will be largely unaffected.

The notice adds more clarity to a major announcement by the school’s president and provost in late June, which said Stanford would cut $140 million in general funding from its coming year budget.

In a July 31 letter to the state’s Employment Development Department, Stanford’s head of human resources, Elizabeth Zacharias, said the layoffs, which are set to take effect between Sept. 30 and Nov. 1, are chiefly due to ongoing economic uncertainty stemming from anticipated changes in federal policy.

The government’s cutting of federal research funding and planned increases to its endowment tax “are expected to have significant budgetary consequences,” she said.

Zacharias also pointed to “rising operational costs, shifts in funding sources, and programmatic changes” as contributing to the layoff decision.

The school declined an interview request on Tuesday.

Stanford’s roughly $37.6 billion endowment was previously taxed at a rate of 1.4% annually on its investment earnings. Under President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” approved by the Republican-controlled Congress, the endowment will now face an 8% tax.

Stanford President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez said in a July 31 statement to the school community that many schools and units at Stanford have made staff reductions.

“The university is providing support resources as well as layoff benefits to eligible employees. Nonetheless, these are difficult actions that affect valued colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to Stanford,” Levin and Martinez said.

A Stanford spokesperson, Luisa Rapport, told KQED in an email that laid off eligible employees will receive “severance based on their years of service to the university, contributions to their benefits premiums for three months, and outplacement assistance.”

In a June announcement, Levin and Martinez noted that the school would continue its hiring freeze for staff members, but faculty hiring would likely continue, though possibly at a slower rate than normal.

“We believe deeply in the value of universities, in federal support for basic research, and in the endowment model that underpins financial aid and graduate fellowships. We will continue to advocate for these things,” they wrote.

“At the same time, we need to be realistic about the current landscape and its consequences. There is significant uncertainty about how federal support for universities will evolve, but it is clear that the status quo has changed.”