Baltimore protesters challenge University System layoffs, demand budget accountability

Layoffs inside the University System of Maryland spilled into the street in Baltimore, where more than 75 AFSCME members rallied outside the Board of Regents meeting and accused university leaders of putting staff and student services at risk. The clash turned a campus budget dispute into a larger question of how the system is spending public money, and whether Baltimore-area students, workers and taxpayers will feel the fallout.

At the center of the protest was University of Maryland, College Park, which said about 84 state-funded employees were laid off after earlier warning that as many as 150 positions could be affected through layoffs, vacancies and retirements. One of the jobs under strain was tied to the University Health Center, where workers said the cuts hit people who help students in crisis. The layoffs landed hardest in places that connect directly to campus life, including services that support health, safety and day-to-day student needs.

University officials said the pressure was financial. For fiscal 2027, College Park projected about $15 million in lower federal funding and about $18 million in higher energy costs, on top of more than $104 million in cumulative reductions to its state-funded base budget over the past three years. Leaders said they had already cut discretionary spending, limited hiring and eliminated vacant jobs before moving to workforce reductions. They also said individual campus presidents decide how funding is allocated inside their institutions, a point that shifts some responsibility away from the system office and onto campus leadership.

The protest also had a political edge. Senate President Bill Ferguson sided with the workers in questioning why layoffs were moving forward after the General Assembly increased support for the university system. That argument resonates in Baltimore, where the University of Maryland, Baltimore remains a major downtown institution and employer, and where cuts anywhere in the system can ripple through the city’s broader higher education and health care economy.

The scale of the cuts has become a systemwide concern. Separate reports put the total at more than 100 layoffs or layoff notices across campuses, including 73 AFSCME-represented employees at College Park, 21 at Bowie State University and at least one layoff notice at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. AFSCME, which says it represents more than 6,000 exempt and non-exempt workers across the system, argued that the regents should have done more to protect staff after state lawmakers had already boosted support. The issue now goes beyond payroll: it is a test of whether Maryland’s public university leaders can justify cutting front-line jobs while still asking students, families and city residents to trust the system’s stewardship.