Today, Johns Hopkins University President William R. Brody spelled out the bad news everybody knew was coming: there’s an immediate hiring freeze for faculty and staff and no pay increases in the upcoming fiscal year (beginning July 1.) Also, no more overtime, temp agency help or contract employees without approval by a dean or director.

     No surprise that Baltimore’s biggest employer feels the recession like everybody else.    

     The endowment took a hit just like your 401K  – 20 percent, which Brody’s memo to faculty and staff today describes as “a pretty good performance under the circumstances.”

     “We now project that the amount of operating cash generated by the endowment will remain flat in fiscal year 2010 and will decrease in 2011 and 2012,” he wrote.

    State and federal support also down, of course and those generous alumni are feeling tapped-out too.