Citing the souring economy, the University of Pittsburgh is freezing salaries next year for most of the roughly 12,500 employees who work on its main Oakland campus and four regional branches.

The move, effective with the July start of the 2009-10 fiscal year, applies to 11,800 faculty and staff not covered by collective bargaining agreements. A budget advisory panel made up of university employees and students recommended the move, and Mr. Nordenberg said yesterday that he concurred.

"It was not an easy decision for anyone," he said.

Mr. Nordenberg discussed the freeze in a meeting with faculty, staff and student representatives during which he also made his first public comment on the Westridge Capital Management fraud investigation and his school's effort to secure the return of $65 million in endowment funds currently unaccounted for.

Mr. Nordenberg told members of the Senate Council that allegations by federal regulators involving two of the firm's money managers were "deeply troubling." He defended Pitt's investment practices as sound.

"We have worked very hard to build financial strength," he said. "We take our responsibility to preserve and protect assets very seriously."

Colleges across the nation, hit by both the recession and a slump in their endowments, have cut spending and, in some cases, laid off workers. In a statement to the campus, Mr. Nordenberg said the university viewed a pay freeze as preferable to a significant workforce reduction.

He said the money likely to flow to universities including Pitt from the federal stimulus package is a reason for optimism. "But we still are searching for any persuasive signs of an economic reversal, and most experts seem to be predicting that a recovery will not come quickly," he said.

Pitt, one of the region's largest employers, has branches in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville.

The last time the university froze salaries was in April 1995, when then Chancellor J. Dennis O'Connor disclosed a plan that prevented increases for at least the remainder of the calendar year.

John Baker, University Senate president, said he believes that given the economy employees generally will understand the freeze.

"I'm not happy about it, but it would appear to be necessary given the economic conditions we're facing," he said.

Officer salaries at Pitt already have been frozen. The school said it is taking a harder look at capital projects as well as hires, but it has not imposed a hiring freeze.

Carnegie Mellon University has also frozen salaries for next year, and leaders of Penn State University have told employees they too may go without raises.

Mr. Nordenberg said the federal stimulus aid for the upcoming state budget would merely bring the school back to where it was before the governor in his proposed budget for next year included a 6 percent cut for state-related universities. He repeated the school's displeasure with being left out of the governor's proposed tuition relief plan.

And, in an apparent reference to criticisms about tuition increases, he said he wanted to set the record straight.

"Controlling tuition increases is a very high priority at the University of Pittsburgh," he said.

Regarding Westridge, Mr. Nordenberg declined comment beyond his statement to the council. He told the members that the fund involved was subject to federal regulation and audited regularly by a major accounting firm that Mr. Nordenberg and other university officials yesterday would not identify.

He said the enhanced indexing strategy was conservative and designed to deliver "modest returns but with little risk."

He noted that other sophisticated entities also have had funds jeopardized. One of those is Carnegie Mellon University, which invested $49 million through Westridge.

"Due diligence with respect to the fund manager was performed, not only by our own investment professionals, but by one of our outside investment advisers," Mr. Nordenberg said.

"We expect to recover at least some of our assets," he said.