Major Universities Decline Trump's Higher Education Compact

Several leading universities have declined to sign the Trump administration's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, which offers preferential access to federal funds in exchange for commitments aligning with the administration's policies. The compact includes provisions such as barring transgender individuals from certain facilities and sports, freezing tuition for five years, limiting international student enrollment, and mandating standardized tests for admissions.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was the first to publicly reject the compact. In a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, MIT President Sally Kornbluth stated that the document "includes principles with which we disagree" and is "inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."

Following MIT's decision, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Southern California also declined the offer. Dartmouth College President Sian Leah Beilock expressed that she did not believe "a compact—with any administration—is the right approach to achieve academic excellence." The University of Virginia (UVA) emphasized its desire for "no special treatment" regarding federal funding, with Interim President Paul Mahoney noting that a contractual arrangement based on factors other than merit would "undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education."

The White House held a virtual meeting with universities that had not yet responded, including the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, and UVA. Education Secretary McMahon described the meeting as a "positive and wide-ranging conversation about the Compact." However, following the meeting, both Dartmouth and UVA announced their decisions not to sign the agreement.

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) criticized the compact, stating that it is "in effect, an ultimatum: sign and receive 'multiple positive benefits,' including 'substantial and meaningful federal grants,' or retain the freedom to 'develop models and values other than those' of the administration, and 'forgo federal funding.'" The AAC&U emphasized that principles of academic freedom and self-governance are essential for the public good provided by higher education through its research and teaching.

As the deadline for the compact approaches, the majority of the nine universities initially contacted have indicated they will not participate, underscoring a broader resistance within the academic community to federal policies perceived as infringing upon institutional autonomy and academic freedom.