Eleven University of Rhode Island employees’ positions have been terminated following the cancellation of projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
President Donald Trump made cuts to 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts in February, including $66 million in URI contracts, according to Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Barbra Wolfe.
The positions, all within the Narragansett Bay Campus’ Coastal Resource Center, were funded by USAID grants, according to Wolfe.
While 11 positions in the United States will be terminated, the number of total jobs lost globally will be much higher, according to multiple CRC employees. All employees working at the project sites abroad will be laid off, totaling closer to 50 positions eliminated.
“I think the biggest impact has been on our teams because we employed a lot of people as members of our URI team in [the] country who were terminated with very little notice,” Sarah Gaines, a coastal resource associate at the CRC said.
USAID grants were initially put on hold in January, according to Iman Hussain, the international projects coordinator for the CRC.
“I think we were all in shock because of the projects we have,” Hussain said. “Their intent, their output is good. We work with really, really poor communities all around the world to support their sustainability practices, efforts in marine protection and biodiversity.”
Employees thought some programs might stand a stronger chance at survival than others, Gaines said.
“We thought there was some chance the projects in the Philippines and the Pacific, which are geopolitically pretty important regions for the U.S., might have a better chance, but apparently not,” Gaines said.
All URI USAID projects were terminated on Feb. 26, according to Hussain. The next day, Hussain’s position and 10 others were terminated.
USAID-funded projects at the CRC work in Madagascar, the Philippines and Fiji, according to Hussain. The projects primarily focused on biodiversity and food security.
Hussain was also rattled by the quick nature of the terminations.
“I’ve worked on grant-funded projects for a majority of my career, and typically when [grants are terminated], you have more advance than this,” Hussain said.
Employees whose positions were terminated will remain at the university until March 31, according to a press release emailed to the URI community on Feb. 27 on behalf of the University President Marc Parlange and Wolfe.
URI received a termination notice at the end of February, requiring all projects previously receiving USAID funding to cease activity, and are now only permitted to wrap up their projects according to Wolfe..
Ultimately, the decision to eliminate the USAID-funded positions was made by the URI Leadership Team on Federal Actions, established in February, Wolfe said.
“We are very proud of the impact our folks have been able to have in the work that they have done through these projects, and these projects have had impact across the globe,” Wolfe said.
The Leadership Team on Federal Action evaluated what the future of those positions at the university could be, as they are funded by grants no longer received by the university, according to Wolfe.
“We’re deeply disappointed and strongly disagree with the outcome of that decision to end those awards, yet we had to make that very, very difficult decision,” Wolfe said.
Bethany Jenkins, the vice president for research and economic development at URI, submitted a declaration as a part of Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s filing in a lawsuit against the proposed cuts to National Institutes of Health funding for research.
CRC employees expressed disappointment that URI did not pursue other avenues for funding, but the process to receive other grants would have taken too long to be supported, possibly taking several months, according to Wolfe.
The university considered legal action to contest the government’s decision but decided against it, according to Hussain.
“It would have been nice if they could have given us a little bit more time to build up new funding support to find other solutions,” Gaines said.
Students at the bay campus have approached Gaines, upset at the loss of the program and potential research opportunities.
The Feb. 27 press release stated that the university is working to place terminated faculty into new roles.
“We realize that these are people who are part of our community,” Wolfe said. “These decisions impact them, as well as their families, and we’re doing what we can to try to help relocate them within our community.”
There are several other grant-funded positions at the university, according to Wolfe. Those grants come from places like the NIH and National Science Foundation.
The CRC’s international program has essentially been eliminated, according to Gaines.
“I think other groups should be alarmed to see a unit like this terminated in that way,” Gaines said.
While disappointed, now is not the time for division, Wolfe said.
“What we need to do is remember we are a community, embrace that community, and because we have that community, that’s what makes URI special,” Wolfe said.
