Officials told the Staff Council on Friday that the scope of layoffs will depend on how office and division leaders adjust their budgets to meet their assigned targets for the upcoming fiscal year.
Vice President and Chief People Officer Sabrina Minor, Chief of Staff Scott Mory and Vice Provost for Enrollment and Student Success Jay Goff fielded questions from Staff Council President Kim Fulmer and other members at Friday’s meeting, where Mory said officials told “unit leaders” how much to cut from their fiscal year 2026 budgets. The briefing came after the Staff Council held a listening session hours after the University enacted a hiring freeze and warned of possible staff and faculty layoffs as officials prepare FY2026 budgets.
Mory described looming layoffs as a “fluid situation” that won’t happen all at once, as people are “pivoting constantly.” He said community members should view the layoffs “more locally.”
The University’s budget announcement earlier this month asserted additional cuts as necessary to address “unsettling” financial challenges worsened by a yearslong structural deficit and federal attacks on higher education. During the Staff Council’s listening session, staff said the cuts made them feel “anxious,” “uncertain,” “betrayed” and “furious.” In her presidential report, Fulmer said 738 participants joined the listening session.
Officials initially announced in late April that officials would reduce the University’s FY2026 budget by 3 percent. Officials instructed all school and unit leaders to prepare a budget that reflects a 3 percent reduction from the FY 2025 budget, though a net 3 percent budget reduction may not result in that reduction for each unit.
Each unit is now expected to incorporate additional cuts into its FY2026 budget, per the University’s updated announcement on its financial circumstances earlier this month.
“Unit leaders already have their targets provided by finance,” Mory said.
When asked about the timeline of layoffs, Mory said the University has a goal of bringing a finalized budget to the Board of Trustees’ September meeting. He said executive leadership has an extended meeting during the first week of August, where officials are hoping to see “significant progress” and prepare the budget for the Board’s approval no later than Labor Day weekend.
Mory said some deans have already solidified budget plans, while others are actively developing them. He noted that officials announced in June they were weighing laying off contract faculty in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
Former Provost Chris Bracey announced last month that GSEHD’s nontenure faculty and staff could face “potential changes” to their job statuses, and officials were considering consolidating classes and cutting programs due to declining enrollment. GSEHD faculty said they fear the plan officials announced to combat declining enrollment lacks faculty consultation and could undermine the school’s mission.
“This is a large university, and people move in slightly different timelines,” Mory said. “I don’t want to make you a false promise and say there’s a date certain by which all will be done.”
Mory said voluntary leadership salary reductions are set to be in place at least through Dec. 2025, at which point the University will review the decision again. He said the savings from those salary reductions will accrue to where each officials’ salary sits in the budget.
Mory did not specify what officials took the voluntary salary reduction or how much of a reduction they took. Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes told the Hatchet earlier this month that they notified University leadership of the voluntary salary cuts that week and do not yet have any information on who has volunteered to take cuts or what percentage reduction they will take.
Top University leadership took salary cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic to combat the institution’s $180 million pandemic-induced budget gap in FY2020, including former University President Thomas LeBlanc, then-Provost Brian Blake, former Chief Financial Officer Mark Diaz, former Director of Athletics Tanya Vogel and academic school deans.
Minor said officials will handle severance packages centrally, so the money will not come from the units’ budgets. She said the finance team, including Fernandes and Finance and Assistant Treasurer Hemant Bakshi, already agreed to do severance packages centrally, and officials notified “unit leaders.”
Minor said employees will be given two weeks notice of their termination and will receive one week severance pay for every year they have been at the University. She said the University is not targeting any population, like senior employees closer to retirement compared to younger staff at lower compensation levels, and every unit has “autonomy” to determine their budget cuts.
“GW strives not to impact anybody. We treat every employee the same, equally across the board, so no disparate impact,” Minor said.
Minor said officials haven’t implemented any policies to incentivize retirement, but it’s “on the table,” and she’s received questions from deans asking if policies surrounding it will be implemented. She said the University is working with the benefits team to put together a proposal and walk through different vendor options, like Fidelity.
Minor said the University offers employment support, like interviewing technique, resume building and job placement workshops through an outplacement service as part of the “reduction process.”
“We definitely value our staff, and just because we can’t afford, at that moment, to keep you on payroll, we definitely want you to land in a place where you’re, you know, feel valued,” Minor said.
She said officials will approve “critical higher positions” that the University needs to fill during the hiring freeze. She said the leader at the top of the unit the position falls under will approve the hiring, which could be an official like University President Ellen Granberg or Mory.
Fulmer asked officials for an update on the strategic framework and new budget model. Officials unveiled the draft strategic framework in April that outlines institutional priorities, including to develop a new budget model that supports GW’s “financial sustainability.”
Mory said the final strategic framework presented to the Board of Trustees during their June retreat was adopted by members with no amendments, and officials seek to launch the strategic framework sometime this fall along with announcements to implement some of its outlined goals.
Mory said the University’s finance team, provost and deans are working on the budget model, and the community can expect a running version of the new model in spring 2026 in tandem with the current budget to “work out kinks.” He said community members can expect an update on the budget model in early fall.
“As we indicated in the memo that went out recently as much as we’re trying to manage some of these challenges, we also want to try to keep as much moving forward as possible for when the University does ultimately emerge on the other side of this,” Mory said. “We’re trying to hold on to as much momentum as possible.”
The Staff Council passed a resolution to ensure the preservation of “dignity, fairness and support” for staff that may be affected by layoffs. Some of the resolution calls on the University to increase severance compensation and benefits to employees who have worked at the University for less than four years and give staff impacted by layoffs priority reemployment.
“One of the main thoughts behind this resolution is to show more compassion to our most vulnerable staff members that live paycheck to paycheck,” Fulmer said.
She said Rhonda Fox, the correspondence and engagement secretary for the council, sat in on chief of police interviews and gave her opinion on who to hire.
The University named Victor Brito as the next chief of the GW Police Department last week, permanently filling the role after former GWPD Chief James Tate’s October resignation following officers’ reports of safety violations and poor training during the University’s controversial arming rollout.
