A 50% indirect rate both isn't particularly high. The idea that "You're raising" an extra 50% isn't really fair either - the effort into writing a grant is the

A 50% indirect rate both isn't particularly high. The idea that "You're raising" an extra 50% isn't really fair either - the effort into writing a grant is the same regardless of the indirect rate. There are arguments to be made that university budgets are too high (I don't agree, but they exist). So renegotiate indirect rates. There's a framework for doing this. An across the board, utterly devoid of context arbitrary cut to 15% isn't a sane policy. Your institution might have a large endowment. Mine is a rural state school.