{"id":277248,"date":"2025-10-04T13:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277248\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T13:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:40:18","slug":"newsom-chides-usc-to-do-the-right-thing-for-academic-freedom-and-resist-trump-campus-compact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277248\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom chides USC to ‘do the right thing’ for academic freedom and resist Trump campus compact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gov. Newsom on Friday waded further into the controversy surrounding a higher education compact<\/a> President Trump has presented to nine universities including USC, chiding campus leadership to \u201cdo the right thing\u201d and reject the offer.<\/p>\n

The compact, sent Wednesday to the University of Southern California and other campuses nationwide, has roiled higher education with its demands for rightward campus policy shifts in exchange for priority federal funding. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, Newsom swung back at the Trump proposal and threatened to cut \u201cbillions\u201d of dollars<\/a> in state funding to any California university that agrees to it.<\/p>\n

Newsom offered fiery remarks during a bill signing at UC Berkeley on Friday, escalating the stakes in the high-pressure decision confronting USC.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo the right thing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of the system? What\u2019s the point of the university? What\u2019s the point of all of this if we don\u2019t have academic freedom? \u2026 It\u2019s not a choice, and the fact that I felt I needed to even send that message is rather shocking, because some people think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom scoffed at the notion that USC, a private institution, even has to deliberate over the Trump offer \u2014 calling it a \u201cfalse choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The compact\u2019s conservative goals<\/p>\n

The White House offer to USC and a small group of prominent universities \u2014 among them the University of Arizona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas and Brown University \u2014 calls on campuses to follow Trump\u2019s views on admissions, diversity and free speech, among other areas. In exchange, they would get more favorable access to federal research grants and additional funding, in addition to other benefits.<\/p>\n

Universities would also have to accept the government\u2019s definition of gender and would not be allowed to recognize transgender people\u2019s gender identities. Foreign student enrollment would be restricted. In regards to free speech, schools would have to commit to promoting a wide range of views on campus \u2014 and change or abolish \u201cinstitutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas,\u201d according to the compact.<\/p>\n

In a campus letter<\/a> Friday, USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said the White House offer \u201ccovers a number of issues that I believe are important to study and discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have already heard from several members of our community, and in the weeks ahead, I will be consulting with the Board of Trustees; the deans and leadership team; and members of the Academic Senate, the Academic Freedom Task Force, the President\u2019s Faculty Advisory Committee, and other stakeholder groups to hear their wide-ranging perspectives,\u201d Kim said. \u201cThese conversations can take time, but they are essential to building trust and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was his responsibility to \u201cadvance USC\u2019s mission and uphold our core values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Berkeley event, Newsom said USC is among California\u2019s \u201cgreat universities\u201d that are \u201call in this together\u201d as campuses face an uncertain and rocky future amid the Trump presidency.<\/p>\n

A day earlier the governor threatened to withhold Cal Grants, the state\u2019s largest financial aid program to California public and private universities that sign onto Trump\u2019s deal. The grants are awarded based on income, and students become eligible through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act Application.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, $2.5 billion in Cal Grants were doled out statewide. USC received Cal Grants worth about $28 million during that academic year.<\/p>\n

UC negotiations ongoing<\/p>\n

In response to a question about the proposal to USC and whether Newsom would issue the same threat of removing state funding to UCLA \u2014 the subject of ongoing negotiations over a sprawling U.S. Department of Justice antisemitism investigation<\/a> \u2014 the governor said he was \u201cnot concerned\u201d about the UC system. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not concerned about their capacity to organize a strategy that\u2019s thoughtful and deliberative that maintains our values … without resorting to the kind of expressed concerns that I have about the university in question that was on that list,\u201d Newsom said.<\/p>\n

As UCLA continues to negotiate with the Trump administration, Newsom said he has confidence in the university system, whose leaders have been working \u201ccollaboratively for weeks\u201d to come to a resolution. <\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s more tempered remarks were a shift from his comments in August and September, when he said UC should \u201csue\u201d Trump and should not \u201cbend the knee,\u201d a reference to his belief that the deals made by Brown<\/a> and Columbia<\/a> universities with the White House were bad moves that empowered the government to target more campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Newsom, [UC] President [James B.] Milliken and the board of regents are fully aligned in protecting the values, integrity and unparalleled quality of the University of California system,\u201d UC Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said Friday in a statement to The Times following Newsom\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

In a Friday letter<\/a>, Milliken said the Trump compact was also a subject of talks among system leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust within the last few days, the administration has announced a plan to impose a myriad of new requirements on universities seeking federal funding, which we will discuss soon with faculty leadership,\u201d said Milliken, without elaborating on the matter.<\/p>\n

The Trump proposal has not been sent to UC. A White House official said the initial campuses on its list were the first group in potentially many more colleges to receive the terms.<\/p>\n

After the Justice Department found in July that UCLA violated Jewish students\u2019 rights<\/a> amid its response to spring 2024 pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the Trump administration sought a nearly $1.2-billion penalty from the school. The government is also seeking changes over admissions, foreign student enrollment, diversity programs and other GOP priorities in higher education.<\/p>\n

While praising UC\u2019s handling of federal negotiations, Newsom was less supportive of recent actions by UC Berkeley to release the personal information of 160 employees to Department of Education as part of a federal investigation into alleged campus antisemitism. <\/p>\n

UC officials said they strive to protect employee privacy and were required to share information with the department because it enforces civil rights law on campuses. Faculty have criticized the move, with some likening it to anti-free speech practices during the McCarthy era.<\/p>\n

Newsom said he \u201crequested an independent review\u201d of the data release in order to \u201cmake a judgment as to whether or not it was appropriate, whether or not it was consistent with past practices or whether or not it should be adjusted in terms of policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC \u2018between a rock and a hard place\u2019<\/p>\n

Rick Hess, an education analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said Newsom\u2019s remarks \u201cseemed not inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a [Kamala] Harris administration had tried something like this, I think Republican governors would be equally livid,\u201d said Hess, director of the institute\u2019s education policy studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSC is between a rock and a hard place,\u201d Hess added. \u201cIf they say no, what does any of this mean? What does it mean to not be prioritized for federal research funds? Does that mean the tap will be shut off? On the other hand, once you\u2019ve signed … will the administration abide by the promises it has made? Part of the problem is, it is not entirely clear what it means to say yes and what it means to say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom blasted institutions that have already \u201csold out\u201d by signing Trump\u2019s compact. The University of Texas has suggested it could agree to the terms. 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 Thursday statement from Kevin Eltife, chair of the board of regents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this state, our state of mind must be resolute,\u201d said Newsom. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to put pressure on people. I need to put pressure on this moment and pressure test where we are in U.S. history, not just California history. And so forgive me for being so firm. This is it. We are losing this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Newsom on Friday waded further into the controversy surrounding a higher education compact President Trump has presented…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":277249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[77676,3387,1582,276,14544,454,2961,224,5337,143379,3435,111749,143378,143377,83445,2501,4280,11016,5223],"class_list":{"0":"post-277248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-academic-freedom","9":"tag-board","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-gender-identity","13":"tag-government","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-milliken","18":"tag-newsom","19":"tag-right-thing","20":"tag-state-funding","21":"tag-trump-campus","22":"tag-uc-berkeley","23":"tag-ucla","24":"tag-university","25":"tag-usc","26":"tag-white-house"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115316183893531599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277248","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=277248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}