Harvard engineering school to make significant staff layoffs: ‘A painful moment’

This article has been updated with a comment from the union.

Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is laying off 25% of its staff represented by the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, the union said.

The layoffs come as a result of “significant financial challenges for years,” David C. Parkes, the dean of the school, said in an email obtained by MassLive and sent to faculty, staff and researchers.

“While we are making progress towards stabilizing the School’s finances, the future we have been preparing for has changed,” Parkes said.

He later added that while the school has made other changes, it can’t “bridge the budgetary gap without reducing our workforce” and will need to institute layoffs and “significantly restructure” several offices.

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