The University of Southern California on Thursday said that it had rejected the controversial education compact the Trump administration offered it and eight other schools. <\/p>\n
USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement<\/a> that he had sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education turning down the Trump offer, which would give priority research funding access to universities that agree to follow the president\u2019s mostly conservative vision of higher education.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate the various points of view shared with me by many members of our community. Although USC has declined to join the proposed Compact, we look forward to contributing our perspectives, insights, and Trojan values to an important national conversation about the future of higher education,\u201d Kim said in a statement.<\/p>\n His letter, which USC provided to The Times, was addressed to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and said that the compact \u201craises a number of issues worthy of further discussion within both higher education and our nation.\u201d <\/p>\n But, Kim wrote, the university had concerns about the president\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d Kim wrote. \u201cOther countries whose governments lack America\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Kim\u2019s letter said that the university \u201cfully agrees\u201d with a portion of the compact that says academic excellence requires a \u201cvibrant marketplace of ideas where all different views can be explored, debated, and challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo foster such an environment at USC, we have committed ourselves to institutional neutrality and launched a number of initiatives designed to promote civil discourse across the ideological spectrum,\u201d Kim wrote to McMahon in the letter dated Thursday. \u201cWithout an environment where students and faculty can freely debate a broad range of ideas and viewpoints, we could not produce outstanding research, teach our students to think critically, or instill the civic values needed for our democracy to flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n The compact \u2014 which has already been rejected by MIT <\/a>and Brown<\/a> \u2014 has roiled higher education and has drawn the ire of Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> with its demands for rightward campus policy shifts in exchange for priority federal funding. <\/p>\n Newsom had aggressively weighed in, challenging USC \u201cto do the right thing\u201d and reject the offer. He threatened to withhold state funding to any California university that agrees to it.<\/p>\n