ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

ST. LOUIS — Washington University is pausing capital projects on its Danforth campus as it braces for federal funding cuts.

University officials said Monday they’re delaying construction of a new 110,000-square-foot Arts and Sciences building announced last fall. Improvements to Mudd Field located in the western side of WashU’s Danforth campus are also on hold.

“We regret that it’s necessary to take these actions, but in our current climate, it is simply not prudent to continue with these projects as scheduled,� Chancellor Andrew Martin said in a statement.

WashU — whose medical school ranks second nationally in the amount of funding it receives from the National Institutes of Health — could face a potentially significant loss of federal research funding as the Trump administration works to slash federal spending.

Several grant-funding agencies, including the NIH, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, have either faced steep cuts or said they will limit support of overhead costs of research.

The Trump administration has also threatened funding from educational institutions that fail to comply with its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

In March, the U.S. Department of Education said Washington University was one of dozens of universities its Office for Civil Rights was investigating for alleged “race exclusionary practices� in graduate programs.

Republican congressmen have also proposed a substantial increases to a tax on university endowments.

Martin said last month that WashU planned to reduce graduate student admissions in some programs and “reevaluate� the need to fill some high-level positions in anticipation of federal cuts.

The private university also raised its tuition by over 5% for next school year to compensate for the potential loss in funding and proposed increase to the federal endowment tax. , an increase of $3,740. That doesn’t include housing and student fees.

“It’s difficult to take these steps, but we must carefully weigh a number of competing priorities and determine when the time is right for large capital projects,� Martin said in a statement Monday.