The federal government shut down on Tuesday night, causing “reviews, award actions and routine agency communications” for researchers to be halted, according to an email to campus from Provost Santiago Schnell.
“Dartmouth is taking steps to bridge short‑term funding gaps and ensure continuity of critical functions,” Schnell wrote.
The shutdown, the first in nearly seven years, ensued after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year.
The direct impact on the College is likely to be minimal. Economics professor Bruce Sacerdote wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth that the College is “unlikely to see significant disruption” from the shutdown.
“For existing federally funded research projects, we have the money or bridge funding in hand and can keep the work going,” Sacerdote said. “Existing federally awarded student aid for the current academic year will not be disrupted.”
Sacerdote added that while many of his research partners at the Census [Bureau] and the Treasury [Department] have had their work halted, he is “optimistic” that they would be “back at work together shortly.”
As a result of the shutdown, the College may face “challenges” on research infrastructure, including uncertainty regarding both research and operations related funds, government professor Sean Westwood said.
“We don’t know what will happen with those funds, but they are a meaningful part of our budget,” he said. “We’ll have to fill that shortfall.”
Westwood added, however, that students should “not be alarmed” by the shutdown.
“Do everything you can to support politicians who are willing to cross the aisle, who are willing to do the hard things necessary to keep our government operational and who are committed to our Constitution and our democratic system,” Westwood said.
Democratic councilor Karen Liot Hill ’00, who serves in the New Hampshire Executive Council, said she was “concerned” because New Hampshire’s public institutions are “looking at significant cuts to their budgets.”
“The public institutions don’t have the kinds of resources like endowments that some of our private institutions have,” Hill said.
Hill said researchers may face “significant delays” in receiving grant payments. She added that the shutdown may affect federal grant approvals and renewals.
“As people as federal employees are furloughed in Washington, D.C., at places like the National Institutes of Health or other agencies that are responsible for reviewing grant applications … it’s going to be difficult for those grant applications to be processed,” Hill said.
In a statement to The Dartmouth, Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., said he shares the “frustration” of his constituents “that this administration continues to threaten access to health care and food assistance” arguing that the Republicans “have chosen to shut the government down rather than lower health care costs and reverse Trump’s cuts to Medicaid.”
“I have repeatedly called on Speaker Johnson to bring the House back into session this week, and finally reach across the aisle so we can come to a bipartisan funding agreement that meets the needs of our communities,” Pappas wrote. “It is the basic duty of Congress to fund our government and keep it open. Until we’re able to do so, I won’t be taking a paycheck, because no Member of Congress should be getting paid while our service members and public employees aren’t.”
Atticus Belcher ’28, who interned this past summer for Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., said he was not surprised to learn about the shutdown.
“It became clear pretty quickly that the current presidency is completely unpredictable,” Belcher said. “A government shutdown felt bound to happen.”
