Signing on would give universities \u201cmultiple positive benefits,\u201d including \u201csubstantial and meaningful federal grants\u201d and \u201cincreased overhead payments where feasible,\u201d according to a letter sent to universities alongside the compact. The letter calls it a proactive effort as the administration continues to investigate alleged civil rights violations at U.S. campuses.<\/p>\n
Called the \u201cCompact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,\u201d it asks universities to accept the government\u2019s definition of gender and apply it to campus bathrooms, locker rooms and women\u2019s sports teams. It asks colleges to stop considering race, gender and a wide range of student demographics in the admissions process and to require undergraduate applicants to take the SAT or ACT.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty, File)<\/p>\n Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty, File)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The 10-page proposed agreement was sent Wednesday to some of the most selective public and private universities: Vanderbilt, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Brown University and the University of Virginia. It was not clear how these schools were selected or why.<\/p>\n The nine universities could become \u201cinitial signatories\u201d and are being invited to provide feedback before the language is finalized, according to the letter. It asks for a decision by Nov. 21.<\/p>\n White House takes a new, incentive-based approach<\/p>\n The memo represents a shift in strategy as the administration offers a reward \u2014 not just punishment \u2014 as an incentive for adopting Trump\u2019s political wish list. Many of the demands mirror those made by his administration as it slashed billions of dollars in federal money for Harvard, Columbia and others accused of liberal bias. A federal judge overturned cuts<\/a> at Harvard in September, saying the government had overstepped its authority.<\/p>\n Several universities said they were reviewing the compact and had no comment. A statement from the University of Virginia said there was nothing to suggest why it was chosen. The university\u2019s interim president assembled a group of administrators on Thursday to review the letter.<\/p>\n Leaders of the Texas system were \u201chonored\u201d that the Austin campus was chosen to be a part of the compact and its \u201cpotential funding advantages,\u201d according to a statement from Kevin Eltife, chair of the Board of Regents. \u201cToday we welcome the new opportunity presented to us and we look forward to working with the Trump Administration on it,\u201d Eltife said.<\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom said if any universities in his state sign the compact, they will lose access to state funding, including Cal Grants, a $2.8 billion student financial aid program. In an all-capital statement, Newsom, a Democrat, said California \u201cwill not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Colleges would have restrictions on international enrollment and tuition hikes <\/p>\n Under the compact, international enrollment would have to be capped at 15% of a college\u2019s undergraduate student body, and no more than 5% could come from a single country. All the universities invited to the compact appear to be within the 15% threshold, though Dartmouth and USC are close, at 14%, according to federal data. Many universities do not report breakdowns by individual countries.<\/p>\n Most other U.S. universities also fall within the 15% cap, but about 120 exceed it, including Columbia University, Emory University and Boston University, federal data show.<\/p>\n Some of the most sweeping commitments are aimed at promoting conservative viewpoints. Universities would have to ensure their campuses are a \u201cvibrant marketplace of ideas\u201d where no single ideology is dominant, the compact said. They would have to evaluate views among students and faculty to ensure every department reflects a diverse mix of views.<\/p>\n To accomplish that, it says universities must take steps, including \u201ctransforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n It requires policies meant to counter the kind of protests that roiled U.S. campuses last year amid the Israel-Hamas war. It asks for a commitment to prevent any disruption to classes or campus libraries and to ensure demonstrators don\u2019t heckle other students.<\/p>\n Campuses that sign the compact would have to freeze tuition for U.S. students for five years, and those with endowments exceeding $2 million per undergraduate could not charge tuition at all for students pursuing \u201chard science\u201d programs.<\/p>\n Opponents see a threat to free speech<\/p>\n Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, urged universities to reject the deal, saying it violates campus independence and undermines free speech.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not worth the compromises that they would have to make,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a Faustian bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n The compact also drew criticism from free speech groups, faculty associations and from Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary and Harvard president. Summers said he believes elite universities have lost their way, but he said the compact is like trying to \u201cfix a watch with a hammer \u2014 ill conceived and counterproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe backlash against its crudity will likely set back necessary reform efforts,\u201d Summers said.<\/p>\n The terms of the deal would be enforced by the Justice Department, with violators losing access to the compact\u2019s benefits for no less than a year. Following violations bump the penalty to two years.<\/p>\n \u201cInstitutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below,\u201d the compact said, \u201cif the institution elects to forego federal benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list<\/a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The White House is asking nine major universities to commit to President Donald Trump\u2019s political…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":273051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5643,11029,276,16720,69,407,1854,57,51,141536,15169,2739,991,50,2112,5217,2830,2737,19123,1229,358,6066,52,5028,61,906,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-273050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-az-state-wire","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-colleges-and-universities","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-education","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-kevin-eltife","18":"tag-lawrence-summers","19":"tag-massachusetts","20":"tag-new-hampshire","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-nh-state-wire","23":"tag-pa-state-wire","24":"tag-pennsylvania","25":"tag-rhode-island","26":"tag-ted-mitchell","27":"tag-tennessee","28":"tag-texas","29":"tag-tn-state-wire","30":"tag-top-stories","31":"tag-tx-state-wire","32":"tag-u-s-news","33":"tag-virginia","34":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115307113150808415","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n