Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education

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The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education is a proposal by the Trump administration to American universities. The compact would confer access to federal funds in exchange for agreeing to demands. [1] In a letter introducing the compact, Education Secretary Linda McMahon described it as supporting university students to "grow into resilient, curious, and moral leaders, inspired by American and Western values." [2] The compact purports to offer "multiple positive benefits" and "substantial and meaningful federal grants" to those universities that would abide by it. [1] Policy analyst Kevin Carey described the compact as "the newest escalation in Trump’s attempt to impose ideological dominance over" American higher education. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

The compact was proposed on October 1, 2025, to Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University. [2] It was sent along with a letter from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, May Mailman, senior adviser for special projects at the White House, and Vincent Haley, director of the Domestic Policy Council. [6] On October 14, the administration extended the offer to sign the compact to any US higher education institution. [7]

On October 10, MIT rejected participation in the compact in a letter to McMahon. [8] [9] Further rejections followed, from Brown University on October 15, [10] [11] the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California on October 16, [12] [13] the University of Virgnia on October 17, [14] and Dartmouth College on October 18. [15] [16] On October 20, the deadline given for feedback on the initial draft of the compact, the University of Arizona became the seventh of the nine invited universities to reject the proposal. [17]

Specific demands by the compact would include a cap on international undergraduate students of 15% and a tuition fee freeze for five years. [1]

Provisions

The text of the compact has been shared with multiple media outlets. [18] The compact enumerates policies in eight areas of policy (titles as listed below), as well as provisions for exceptions and for enforcement.

  1. "Equality in Admissions": Prohibits considering "sex, ethnicity, race, nationality, political views, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious associations, or proxies for any of those factors" in admissions decisions, scholarship, or programming. Requires the use of a standardized test for all undergraduate admissions. Universities must publish standardized test scores for admitted undergraduates by "race, national origin, and sex." [18]
  2. "Marketplace of Ideas & Civil Discourse": Commits to "an intellectually open campus environment" with many viewpoints and no dominant ideology. This extends to reorganizing the university, including "transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas." Calls for ideological diversity, not just at the campus level, "but within every field, department, school, and teaching unit." Campuses must ensure open dialogue and protect against “heckler’s vetoes,” including forbidding disruptions affecting classes and libraries, and prohibiting demonstrators from heckling or accosting students. Campuses must prohibit incitement to violence and support for US-designated terrorist organizations. [18]
  3. Nondiscrimination in Faculty and Administrative Hiring: Requires merit-based hiring with no consideration of race, sex, religion, or similar factors and endorses "a steadfast commitment to rigorous and meritocratic selection based on objective and measurable criteria." [18]
  4. "Institutional Neutrality": Requires that "university employees, in their capacity as university representatives," as well as all colleges, faculties, departments, and other academic units "abstain from actions or speech relating to societal and political events" except as individuals or in cases when the university is directly affected. [18]
  5. "Student Learning": Endorses grade integrity and neutral "defensible standards" for grading, and calls for published accountability based on measuring changes in grading across time and across institutions. [18]
  6. "Student Equality": Calls for students to be treated as individuals, and not on immutable characteristics, with the exception of sex. States that such sex-based distinctions are required for women's equality. In matters of bathroom, locker-room, and sports segregation, universities will define sex categories based on reproductive and biological criteria. Disciplinary procedures are to be independent of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. [18]
  7. "Financial Responsibility": Commits to freezing effective tuition rates for American students for five years, including by reducing administrative costs. Universities will inform students of prospective earnings by major, based on statistics of their graduates. Makes first-semester tuition refundable. Requires universities with endowments greater than $2 million per student to make tuition free for admitted students pursuing hard science programs, with the possible exception of students from wealthy families. Makes military students eligible for full transfer credit under the Joint Service Transcript. [18]
  8. "Foreign Entanglements": Requires universities, faculty, staff, and students to comply with laws regarding money laundering, know-your-client, and other foreign monetary transfers "to prevent university services from being used to facilitate money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities." Restricts student visas to foreign students who "exhibit extraordinary talent that promises to make America stronger" and who "are introduced to, and supportive of, American and Western values." Caps foreign enrollment at 15% of the total student population and each foreign country at 5%. Requires universities to "to screen out students who demonstrate hostility to the United States, its allies, or its values" and to share information on foreign students with the Departments of State and Homeland Security on request. The text denounces the risks of relying of foreign students for university revenue, because they displace "deserving American students" and "if not properly vetted, saturat[e] the campus with noxious values such as anti-Semitism and other anti-American values." Foreign funding must be disclosed, may not sponsor students of any nationality, nor promote the teaching of any particular perspective.
  9. Exceptions: Notwithstanding commitments to fairness above, single-sex institutions and religious institutions may favor a single sex or religious belief in hiring and admissions. Any university may preference American citizens over others.
  10. Enforcement: University leaders will certify compliance to the compact annually, and an external organization will poll the university community on its adherence. Compliance is required for unspecified benefits to universities, and noncompliance is subject to a penalty of "all monies advanced by the U.S. government during the year of any violation." Private donors may also request the return of any donation made during a year of noncompliance.

Reactions

The proposal was criticized variously as a violation of the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, ideological interference in science and academia, harming transgender students, and anti-immigrant. The administration was also criticized as untrustworthy, with some institutions having existing agreements now being met with new demands. [19] [20]

Sian Leah Beilock, Dartmouth College's President, responded to the compact by vowing to "always defend our fierce independence" and stating, "We will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves." [21] [22] Kevin Elte, head of the University of Texas Board of Regents, responded positively, stating, “Today we welcome the new opportunity presented to us and we look forward to working with the Trump Administration on it.” [23]

The American Association of Colleges and Universities issued a statement rejecting the Compact, and declaring that university administrators "cannot bargain with the essential freedom of colleges and universities to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom." [22]

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology responded to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon with the following letter

Dear Madam Secretary,

I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.

I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.

As we discussed, the Institute’s mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:

· MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.

· MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family’s finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

· We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don’t like – and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree. These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they’re right, and we live by them because they support our mission – work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.

The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.

In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.

As you know, MIT’s record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America’s research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.

Sincerely,

Sally Kornbluth

On October 15, president Christina Paxson publicly posted Brown University's response. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Trump offers top universities funds if they boost conservative ideas". The Guardian . 2 October 2025. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits". The Washington Post. 2025-10-03. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  3. ↑ Carey, Kevin (2025-10-04). "A Deal That Would End Universities' Independence". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  4. ↑ "Trump asks 9 colleges to commit to his political agenda and get favorable access to federal money". The Washington Post. 2025-10-02. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2025-10-05. The White House is asking nine major universities to commit to President Donald Trump's political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal money. A document sent to the universities encourages them to adopt the White House's vision for America's campuses, with commitments to accept the government's priorities on admissions , women's sports, free speech, student discipline and college affordability, among other topics.
  5. ↑ Chemerinsky, Erwin (2025-10-02). "Trump's 'Compact' With Universities Is Just Extortion". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  6. ↑ "U.Va. among nine universities offered to join initiative led by Trump administration". The Cavalier Daily - University of Virginia's Student Newspaper. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  7. ↑ Diep, Francie. "Trump Welcomes 'Any Institution' to Sign Onto Compact Outlining His Priorities". The Chronicle of Higher Education .
  8. ↑ Ogueh, Jada; Tang, Alex; Chu, Sabine. "MIT rejects federal compact". The Tech. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  9. ↑ Kornbluth, Sally (2025-10-10). "Regarding the Compact". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  10. ↑ "Brown University president declines invitation for Brown to join federal Compact". Brown University. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  11. 1 2 "Response Letter from Brown University President Christina Paxson to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon" (PDF). Brown University. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  12. ↑ Jameson, J. Larry (2025-10-16). "An Update on Penn's Response to the Compact for Academic Excellence". Penn Today. Retrieved 2025-10-16.
  13. ↑ Miller, Daniel (2025-10-16). "USC rejects Trump education compact aimed at shifting the university to the right". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-10-16.
  14. ↑ Nietzel, Michael (October 18, 2025). "University Of Virginia Becomes 5th School To Decline Trump's Higher Ed Compact". Forbes . Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  15. ↑ Beilock, Sian Leah (2025-10-18). "Dartmouth's Feedback on the Compact". Dartmouth Office of the President. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  16. ↑ Sullivan, Adam (2025-10-20). "Dartmouth College rejects Trump administration's academic excellence compact". WCAX. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  17. ↑ Marcos, Coral Murphy (October 20, 2025). "University of Arizona becomes seventh US college to reject Trump's 'compact'". The Guardian . Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Read the full text of Trump's proposal for priority college funding". The Washington Post. 2025-10-03. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  19. ↑ Alexa Gagosz; Anjali Huynh (October 2, 2025). "Brown, MIT, Dartmouth, and other elite colleges face fresh demands from Trump administration with new compact". The Boston Globe .
  20. ↑ Diti Kohli; Brooke Hauser; Hilary Burns (October 4, 2025). "Trump makes MIT an offer, one many on campus hope the school can refuse". The Boston Globe .
  21. ↑ "Response to the 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education' | Office of the President". president.dartmouth.edu. 2025-10-03. Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  22. 1 2 Watson, Jamal (2025-10-05). "Higher Education Leaders Reject Trump Administration's "Compact for Academic Excellence"". The EDU Ledger. Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  23. ↑ "Trump asks 9 colleges to commit to his political agenda and get favorable access to federal money". The Washington Post. 2025-10-02. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2025-10-05.

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