The White House | Image:
AP
The Trump administration is pursuing a new approach to influence US colleges and universities, transitioning from threats of defunding to offering financial incentives for schools that adopt its preferred policies.
This change follows prior legal challenges associated with efforts to address issues such as Pro-Palestinian protests, diversity initiatives, and transgender policies.
According to Reuters, the White House sent a memo titled “A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to several prominent universities.
Some critics view this approach as a continued effort to exert influence over higher education, raising questions about academic freedom and institutional independence.
Key Points of the White House Memo
The memo lists 10 guidelines that universities can follow to gain preferential access to federal funding. Schools that agree must hire an independent auditor to assess compliance, with results reviewed by the Trump Justice Department. The key points are:
- Limiting international undergraduate students to no more than 15% of the total enrollment.
- Ensuring no single country represents more than 5% of students.
- Prohibiting the consideration of race or sex in admissions and hiring decisions.
- Keeping tuition rates frozen for the next five years.
- Mandating standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, or the Classic Learning Test for applicants.
- Tackling grade inflation in academic programs.
- Encouraging a mix of viewpoints among students, faculty, and staff.
- Overhauling or eliminating offices that suppress conservative perspectives, including those accused of inciting unrest.
- Vetting international applicants for alignment with “American and Western values” and screening for any anti-U.S. sentiments.
- Providing full student records, including disciplinary history, to federal agencies like Homeland Security and the State Department.
Institutions that “develop models and values” different from those outlined may lose federal benefits, while compliant schools could gain advantages.
Targeted Universities and Their Responses
The memo was sent to nine elite institutions: Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California (USC), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Texas (UT), the University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia (UVA).
The University of Texas said it was “enthusiastically” looking forward to working with the administration on its requirements. USC and UVA noted that they are still reviewing the proposal. The White House did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the memo.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has warned that public universities like USC could face state funding cuts if they adopt the compact, signaling potential tensions between federal and state priorities.
Free Speech Concerns
The proposal has sparked worries about academic freedom. Tyler Coward, lead counsel for government affairs for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told Reuters, “a government that can reward colleges and universities for speech it favors today can punish them for speech it dislikes tomorrow.”
This reflects broader concerns that the administration’s incentives could erode the independence of higher education.
The compact follows previous efforts to withhold funding from schools like Harvard and UCLA for allegedly favoring “radical left” policies, which faced legal obstacles.
This blend of incentives and penalties continues the administration’s campaign against perceived left-leaning influences on campuses, from protest handling to ideological units, amid ongoing legal and public debates.
