John D. Sailer Yale Professors Call Out University’s Bureaucracy A new open letter denounces administrative bloat and stresses the importance of focusing on the academic mission.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/yale-professors-open-letter-faculty-hiring
Nearly 100 Yale professors have signed a letter calling for the university to “freeze new administrative hires” and conduct a “faculty-led audit” of its sprawling bureaucracy. The missive, sent to Yale’s president and provost last month, proposes an audit aimed at “cutting or restructuring administrative roles” and aligning the university’s “resources . . . with its core academic mission.”
While faculty have long complained about administrative growth and overreach, the Yale letter is a rare example of organized pushback. Its publication could inspire faculty at other schools to follow suit and potentially provide a roadmap for a tacit alliance between reform-minded liberal professors and the Trump administration.
Like other elite universities, Yale’s bureaucracy has grown much faster than its professoriate. The signatories note that “over the last two decades, faculty hiring has stagnated while administrative ranks have by some estimates more than doubled—outpacing peer institutions and leaving Yale with five times as many administrators as tenured faculty.”
This out-of-control growth, the professors argue, clashes with the university’s mission. They call for a “top-to-bottom audit of non-academic positions,” which “would not only generate immediate savings—potentially in the hundreds of millions—but would send a resounding message: Yale prioritizes intellectual vitality over bureaucratic inertia.”
The letter, of course, was published amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities. But the signatories insist that reform is worthwhile regardless of federal pressure. “This faculty governance initiative would not only preempt potential federal intervention,” they write, “it would unite faculty across perspectives in reclaiming our central role in university governance.”
In other words, some faculty at Yale see this as a moment to be seized. Noting the “economic uncertainty” that’s pushed other universities to “slash faculty lines and shrink student cohorts,” the signatories insist that they “have the rare opportunity to lead by doubling down on our academic mission.”
“Yale has shown glimpses of this leadership in its recent commitment to students and faculty,” they maintain. “Now we must follow through: trim administrative excess while protecting our academic core. This is not merely about weathering financial pressure—it’s about Yale leading by example, showing that when forced to choose, we unhesitatingly choose scholarship over bureaucracy,” the letter concludes.
For decades, federal policy has been a tool for campus social-justice advocates, many working in administrative positions. They cited a range of federal policies—from civil rights mandates to NIH funding requirements—to justify their roles and initiatives.
Almost overnight, federal policy has become a potential instrument for a different constituency: old-school liberal professors. A growing number of faculty at elite universities have acknowledged that DEI has failed; that campuses did not maintain order after October 7, 2023; that scholars have grown increasingly sectarian; that a lack of viewpoint diversity has damaged the academy; and that administrative bloat has distorted the university’s mission.
The way forward for America’s universities, which remain the best in the world, will require a concord between two parties with little trust for one another: reform-minded liberal faculty and the Trump administration. Professors with a more traditional vision of higher education, perhaps even as they denounce the president, should follow Yale’s faculty and pursue aggressive reform. In turn, the Trump administration should signal a positive vision for higher education—and do everything it can to empower these scholars.
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