Nicholls State University received a notice during the first week of April that Jeff Landry issued an executive order containing a federal hiring freeze.
The federal hiring freeze was set to take effect from April 11 through the remainder of the fiscal year. Jerad David, director of communications and legislative affairs, said Nicholls used their one-week notice to prioritize the hiring process before the freeze.
Initially, Nicholls’ administration believed the federal hiring freeze affected any position funded through the school’s operating budget, according to David. However, he said further clarification stated that the executive order shifted to include all campus positions, regardless of the funding source, until July 1, 2025.
In addition to the executive order instating a federal hiring freeze, it declared that federally funded institutions can not advertise for open positions until after the fiscal year ends.
As a result, Nicholls and all organizations within it are unable to advertise hiring for any upcoming positions. This includes faculty, staff and student employees.
David assured that despite the federal hiring freeze, summer courses will proceed as usual.
Nicholls’ administration will remain in close communication with the Louisiana government to ensure that they are able to hire summer faculty to teach classes, David said. Taylor F. Barras, the commissioner of administration, will either approve or deny the university’s requests for a hiring exception.
Due to the important nature of having summer faculty, David said he believes these requests will be approved. He assured that Nicholls will make sure students are not neglected amid these changes.
“At the end of the day, Nicholls will certainly make sure the students’ needs are met,” David said. “We have the ability to shift the things we do and the people who work here to ensure that those services and needs of the students are met during this time.”
If an organization within Nicholls desires to request to advertise and/or hire for any position before the fiscal year ends, David said the organization can reach out to a department head. The department head will contact President Jay Clune, and the request will be presented as a proposal to Barras to be approved or denied.
