This post was updated Sept. 12 at 6:20 p.m.

A UCLA organization that provides specialized technology support for students and faculty across the Humanities Division could be impacted by UCLA’s new information technology consolidation initiative, professors said.

Humanities Technology, which was founded in 1987, provides consultations and technical infrastructure to improve humanities education at UCLA, according to its website. However, the organization could be compromised, Saree Makdisi, the chair of the English department, said.

UCLA will consolidate IT and pause new faculty hiring, two vice chancellors announced in an Aug. 20 email to faculty and staff. The centralization initiative, titled “One IT,” is part of the university’s larger plan to consolidate several other campus services – including human resources, finance, communications, marketing, event planning and academic personnel services – to reduce costs, according to internal documents acquired by the Daily Bruin.

[Related: UCLA plans to consolidate some campus services to cut costs, increase ‘efficiency’]

Both chancellors added in the email that the change is part of Goal 5 of the UCLA’s Strategic Plan, which aims to increase “institutional effectiveness and operational efficiency.”

The federal government suspended many of UCLA’s research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy – which totaled $584 million – in late July. The agencies alleged that the university allowed “antisemitism and bias,” illegal affirmative action practices and transgender women to compete on women’s sports teams as reasons for the freeze.

[Related: Federal Funding Cuts to UCLA]

A federal judge restored UCLA’s NSF grants in August, but the university’s NIH and DOE awards remain frozen. The same judge said she will hear arguments Sept. 18 over whether UCLA’s NIH grants should also be reinstated.

[Related: District court judge to hear arguments on restoring suspended NIH grants to UCLA]

The One IT plan began Sept. 8 and is set to be completed in October 2029, according to the One IT website. The first phase – consolidation – focuses on centralizing IT units and implementing a committee review system for IT-related hiring and spending, according to the One IT website.

The second phase – rationalization – involves “assessing” current personnel, contracts and systems to create recommendations for an operating model. In the final phase – transformation – the university will introduce “standard tools,” such as ticketing systems and endpoint management systems to streamline IT functions.

Torquil Duthie, a professor of Japanese literature, said in an Aug. 9 email to department chairs that the initiative could eliminate the jobs of departmental technology analysts, who are the IT support staff members assigned to specific academic departments within the Humanities Division.

When asked by the Daily Bruin for comment on the Aug. 9 email, a spokesperson for UCLA referred to the Aug. 20 email to faculty and staff and did not clarify whether or not the One IT initiative is being implemented in response to the suspension of research grants.

HumTech staff are responsible for setting up appointment scheduling software for faculty, assisting with PowerPoint slideshows and setting up projectors and audio-visual equipment for guest lectures, as well as offering personalized support for research, Makdisi said.

He added that different academic disciplines have unique and specific IT needs.

“What English needs is different from what physics needs, which is different from what biochemistry needs, which is different from what music needs,” he said. “All the needs are very specific because of the way in which they are integrated into our research and teaching.”

The centralization plan also seeks to fix vulnerability to cyber threats and improve service inconsistency, according to the One IT website. Christine Holten, the director of Writing Programs, said that working with localized staff helps her avoid making workplace mistakes that could negatively impact others.

She added that she believes the One IT plan will make UCLA feel impersonal and harm workplace culture.

“There is already a pretty big bureaucracy at UCLA and it’s just going to make it more faceless,” Holten said. “They do this, they’re going to be bleeding staff. It won’t be fun to work at UCLA.”

Makdisi said he believes administrators have not provided faculty and staff with substantial evidence that the plan will lower spending and maximize resources. These changes are also being implemented without input from the faculty or staff who rely on these specialized IT services, Calvin Normore, a professor of philosophy, said.

“It is deeply disappointing that this is being pushed through without any faculty consultation during the summer break, at a time that UCLA is being threatened by the federal government and many faculty all over campus are preoccupied with the loss of federal funding,” Duthie said in the email.

Makdisi said he believes that administrators are “really removed” from the daily operations at UCLA. He added that he believes the administration’s decisions that impact teaching and research cross the boundaries of shared governance and step into an area beyond their expertise.

“It (IT) is woven into the kind of teaching we do and the kind of research we do,” Makdisi said. “It’s fundamental to our teaching and research.”