The UVA School of Medicine, facing an estimated $25 million reduction in funding from the edge of Elon Musk’s chainsaw, could be leaning in the direction of passing that pain down to its employees.
A contact at the UVA School of Medicine told us today that a town-hall meeting for employees has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, and that the buzz among employees is that they’re going to be presented with a plan to float 5, 10 and 15 percent pay cuts to make up for the budget shortfall.
The cuts in National Institutes of Health funding for medical research were announced by the Trump/Musk administration on Feb. 7, a key feature in a plan – if we can call it a plan – to save $4 billion a year.
The cuts have been on hold since a judge issued an injunction on Feb. 10 in response to a suit filed by 22 state AGs; notably, the Virginia attorney general, Jason Miyares, a MAGA Republican, is not among that group.
A separate March 5 injunction has effectively put the kibosh, for now, on the NIH cuts, which would impact so-called “indirect costs” associated with medical research – for instance, electricity, hazardous waste disposal, safety staff, janitorial workers.
The uncertainty over what will happen next in the court fight is, understandably, giving university leaders pause.
Flip side, at UVA, $25 million would seem to be a drop in the bucket, at a school with a $5.8 billion annual budget and a $14.2 billion endowment.
Wild idea here: the endowment is there for a reason, right?
Alternatively, maybe hit up the donors who are throwing money down the athletics rabbit hole to see if they might be able to help.
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Chris Graham
