Ahead of Monday’s deadline, the University of Arizona became the last school to publicly reject President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. It raises the total number of institutions to reject the compact to seven.
In a letter addressed to Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon, University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella was pleased to continue working with the federal government on addressing higher education’s evolving needs.
However, like other institutional leaders, Garimella raised concern over a funding system “based on anything other than merit,” arguing that it “would weaken the world’s preeminent engine for innovation, advancement of technology, and solutions to many of our nation’s most profound challenges.”
While the White House has extended the compact to all colleges and universities in the U.S., no institution as of yet has accepted the compact and its list of demands.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, on the other hand, has emphasized that the university does not accept or reject the compact and will maintain an ongoing dialogue with the White House.
“We look forward to continuing the conversation—on our campus and with leaders in government and higher education—as we work toward our shared goal of restoring public trust in higher education and ensuring that America’s universities remain the best in the world,” Diermeier wrote in an email to the community, according to the school newspaper.
(LAST UPDATE: Oct. 20) Monday is the deadline for institutions to sign President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. So far, six of the nine institutions originally approached have rejected the offer.
Over the weekend, the presidents of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia sent letters to Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon rejecting the compact.
“I do not believe that the involvement of the government through a compact—whether it is a Republican- or Democratic-led White House—is the right way to focus America’s leading colleges and universities on their teaching and research mission,” wrote Dartmouth President Sian Beilock.
Paul Mahoney, interim president of the University of Virginia, emphasized that the university seeks “no special treatment” in delivering affordable education, maintaining a fair admissions process and upholding the core principles outlined in the compact, standards which the university already meets independently.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the White House hosted a virtual meeting with several institutions that had yet to respond to the compact, including the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University.
(LAST UPDATE: Oct. 17) The University of Southern California has rejected President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, becoming the fourth institution to decline the White House’s offer of preferential funding treatment.
Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have already passed on Trump’s compact. The deal would require schools to cap tuition rates, restrict international enrollment and end DEI programs, among other concessions.
“We are concerned that even though the Compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the Compact seeks to promote,” USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim
said in a statement.
“Other countries whose governments lack America’s commitment to freedom and democracy have shown how academic excellence can suffer when shifting external priorities tilt the research playing field away from free, meritocratic competition.
Brown University President Christina said in a letter that the school signed an agreement with the Trump administration this summer that covers several of the compact’s components, including rooting out harassment and discrimination on campus.
Brown has also been working to increase financial aid, adding special initiatives to enroll military veterans and students from rural areas. But Paxson said the university couldn’t enter into an agreement that ties research funding to factors outside the value of the research itself.
“I am concerned that the Compact by its nature and by various provisions would
restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance, critically
compromising our ability to fulfill our mission,” Paxson wrote.
University of Pennsylvania President Larry Jameson has informed the Department of Education of the institution’s decision to reject the compact, The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper, reported.
“At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability,” Jameson wrote in a message to his campus community. “The long-standing partnership between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress.”
Trump initially invited nine institutions to accept the deal, with a deadline of Oct. 20. Earlier this week, the administration extended the offer to all colleges and universities.
(LAST UPDATE: Oct. 10) Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the first institution to reject the Trump administration’s recently proposed compact, which guarantees those who sign on priority access to federal funding in exchange for their compliance with a set of federally mandated principles.
In a letter sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Friday, MIT President Sally Kornbluth argued that the document would “restrict freedom of expression” and would politicize federal research funding by prioritizing factors unrelated to scientific merit.
Leaders have criticized the compact as an affront to the academic freedom and autonomy of higher education. If they comply, the nine institutions that received the memo would be compelled to overhaul their admissions frameworks, restrict international student enrollment and adhere to a slew of other demands aimed at altering their academic and operational priorities.
The University of Texas is thus far the only institution approached by the Trump administration to respond positively to the compact.
The faculty senates of the University of Arizona and the University of Virginia voted to oppose the compact and have called on their presidents and boards to reject its demands.
The former president of the University of Virginia was recently pressured to step down by the Trump administration, which threatened to revoke federal funding due to his continued support for DEI initiatives.
“This Compact contains provisions which endanger the independence, excellence and integrity of the University of Arizona and infringe on the constitutional rights of members of the University of Arizona community,” a statement by the faculty senate read.
Two unions at the University of Pennsylvania are circulating a petition among the campus community to pressure leadership not to sign the compact. As of Oct. 9, nearly 1,500 students, faculty, alumni and others have signed the petition.
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“While the loss of federal funding would threaten Penn’s ability to perform its vital education and research work, agreeing to this compact would not forestall that outcome,” read a statement by the school’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
The professors’ union noted that UPenn had already struck a deal with the Trump administration over the summer to avoid losing $175 million in federal funding. The deal mandated that UPenn ban transgender athletes from competing or practicing on women’s sports teams.
In response to the compact, Dartmouth University President Sian Beilock stated that the school “will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.” It’s a notable stance from Beilock, who was the only Ivy League president who didn’t sign a public letter in April condemning government overreach.
The presidents of Trinity Washington University and Wesleyan University, who were not asked to sign the compact, have labeled Trump’s latest effort as “extortion.”
Two research and advocacy nonprofits that have backed the White House’s efforts to dissolve the Department of Education now criticize the push for greater federal control—highlighting a sharp contradiction in the Trump administration’s agenda.
“Indeed, if this ‘Compact’ had been devised by a Harris-Walz administration, Republicans would be (rightfully) livid,” wrote Frederick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.
“Republicans would be inveighing against massive federal overreach, asking what gave the secretary of education the power to condition federal funds on an arbitrary list of demands, and decrying the lawlessness of the exercise.”
Colleges that sign the compact would be “selling their souls,” wrote Neal McCluskey, a director at Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “Although some aspects of the deal would advance Trump’s priorities, colleges—supposed citadels of free inquiry—should not sell themselves to the government under any administration.”
