Eliot Renovations To Proceed As Planned Amid Funding Uncertainty

Renovations to Eliot House are on schedule to begin after Commencement and conclude by fall 2027 — despite financial uncertainty causing the University to tighten its belt.

Three days after the Trump administration pulled over $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced a temporary hiring freeze in an email to University affiliates.

Garber cited “rapidly shifting federal policies” that have created an environment of financial uncertainty for universities across the nation. He wrote that Harvard “needs to prepare for a wide range of financial circumstances.”

“Consequently, it is imperative to limit significant new long-term commitments,” he wrote. “We are also asking the leadership of Schools and administrative units to scrutinize discretionary and non-salary spending, reassess the scope and timing of capital renewal projects, and conduct a rigorous review of any new multi-year commitments.”

In a similar statement to Harvard affiliates, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra reaffirmed the decision to pause faculty and staff hiring amid financial uncertainties.

“The recently announced pause in faculty and staff hiring, and the decision to stop admission offers to graduate students on waitlists, are temporary measures to provide us with time to do the hard, strategic work ahead,” Hoekstra wrote in the statement.

The announcement of the hiring freeze sparked concerns over the continuation of House renewal projects, which Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana declined to comment on during an interview with The Crimson on March 25.

But Eliot House Faculty Dean David F. Elmer ’98 confirmed in an email that “construction will proceed as scheduled” for the House renovation project.

“We have already begun the first phases of the project. The construction underway on the MAC Quad is also part of the renovation,” Elmer wrote.

“From our perspective, we are planning for an on-time start and on-time completion,” he added.

Beginning in fall 2025, Eliot students will reside in either the Inn at Harvard, dorms on Prescott Street, or Harvard-owned dorms above businesses in Harvard Square as the Eliot dorms are renovated.

The building will be renovated all at once over the course of two years — unlike the Adams House renovations, which were completed building by building in phases. The renovations will include new doors and windows, replaced electrical and plumbing systems, and fire safety upgrades.

Eliot House will be the seventh house to be renovated as part of a larger effort to restore all 12 of Harvard’s undergraduate houses. The House renewal project will cost the University over $1.4 billion.

In response to questions about continuing renovations, University spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote that administrators “are following the guidance included in the recent updates from President Garber and Dean Hoekstra and will continue to communicate updates with the community.”

—Staff writer Bianca G. Ciubancan can be reached at bianca.ciubancan@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Mohan A. Hathi can be reached at mohan.hathi@thecrimson.com.