This is essentially Parkinson's Law. The common one you hear about Parkinson's law is about work filling up time but really if you read the original from 1955

This is essentially Parkinson's Law. The common one you hear about Parkinson's law is about work filling up time but really if you read the original from 1955 it talks about "the increase in the number of employees at the Colonial Office while the British Empire declined". And causes for this being: "An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals," and "Officials make work for each other." If you've ever worked at a large corporation you've seen this in action. Universities and government are no different. Bureaucracy keeps expanding, corporations address this problem by random acts of cancelling entire divisions/products and layoffs.