On October 1, the Trump administration sent letters to nine higher education institutions offering them more access to federal funding if they agree to a new compact: the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. According to CBS News, the institutions that received the letters include the following: University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University.
Under the proposed compact, colleges would “freeze tuition for five years, cap the enrollment of international students and commit to strict definitions of gender… [and] would also be required to change their governance structures to prohibit anything that would “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas,” according to The New York Times. Universities that sign would gain priority in federal grants, overhead funding, and White House partnerships. On the other hand, those that decline, such as MIT, may lose relevance in federal funding.
On October 10, MIT rejected the proposed compact in the form of an open letter from its president, Sally Kornbluth. MIT was the first among the nine to publicly reject the compact. According to the MIT Organization Chart and a letter from Kornbluth, some of MIT’s existing practices comply with parts of the compact, but the agreement contains provisions that would restrict the institute’s free expression and institutional independence. Kornbluth wrote that MIT’s values and practices already meet many of the standards proposed, such as merit-based funding and need-blind admissions for families under a certain income. However, she also emphasized that accepting the compact would raise unacceptable limits on freedom of expression and autonomy.
In her letter from the MIT Organization Chart, she wrote, “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.”
Along with MIT, the University of Texas at Austin also made a public announcement: “Today, we welcome the new opportunity presented to us, and we look forward to working with the Trump administration on it,” Kevin Eltife, the university’s chairman of the System Board of Regents, stated in an email statement covered by The Daily Texan, the university’s student newspaper.
According to The Daily Texan, after Eltife’s statement on October 13, around 200 students protested the proposed compact by shouting, “Do not sign” in front of the Main Tower. This protest was organized by groups such as Students for a Democratic Society and the UT Graduate Workers Union. Protesters argued and spoke out against the limits on international enrollment and their opinions on the level of government interference in academic policies and freedoms, as reported on The Daily Texan.
“I have so many friends, so many people who are close to me, who come from other countries, who come here for education, to build better lives for themselves, to learn, to be able to make the world a better place,” Parker Oehler, a junior studying history and civil engineering, said to The Daily Texan.
Oehler’s comments reflect a broader concern among students that the compact’s proposed international student cap not only limits global diversity but also closes off opportunities for collaboration and cultural exchange.
With this new compact, new worries have arisen. The letters have brought up new concerns about the precedent that is now set about signing these compounds, which could end up pushing universities into a position where they cannot deny, due to the risk of losing federal funding.
“I hope institutions do not sign this compact,” Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, said to in The New York Times. “I do not think it’s in their best interests individually, and collectively, it’s a horrible precedent to cede power to the federal government.”
This compact will effect international students the most, according to the BBC. This is because, upon acceptance, these universities would have to agree to an international student cap of 15%. Within this 15%, no more than 5% of students can be from the same country. To visualize how this cap will change admissions, in the fall of 2023, MIT’s undergraduate student body was made up of 30% international students and 27% for the University of Pennsylvania, according to The New York Times. These are just two of the nine universities the compound was sent to. If the student bodies of these universities consisted of about 25% international students, it is safe to say that, looking to the future, universities that accept this compound will be drastically changed.
To current high school students, especially international students, this compact may add more uncertainty to the stressful process of college applications, and students may wonder how it will change future college application processes.
