In another attempt to stamp its ideological hegemony on America’s educational institutions, the Trump administration asked eleven elite research universities — including the University of Southern California (USC), Dartmouth College, and Brown University — to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” in exchange for federal funding. First proposed on Oct. 1, the compact requires schools to “transform or abolish institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” Blatantly overstepping its federal power, the compact asks universities to reshape their institutions in the image of the administration, tarnishing the role universities have forever played as bastions for free speech, civil discussion, and cross-cultural exchange.
The compact requires universities to foster a “vibrant marketplace of ideas” on their campuses, yet also requests that employees “abstain from actions or speech relating to societal or political events.” Policing faculty for engaging in political discussions not only violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech but also obstructs learning. From government to sociology classes, professors often incorporate political discussions into curricula to connect learning with relevant, real-world issues. While a core purpose of the compact is to prevent the belittlement of conservative ideas, it completely undermines the First Amendment right that students and faculty have to disagree with certain viewpoints. Any attempt to silence dissenting opinions is brazenly unconstitutional and prevents universities from fostering spaces where debate is encouraged and consensus is promoted.
The compact’s requirement of capping undergraduate international student enrollment to 15% also poses the threat to cross-cultural exchange in higher education. Universities admit foreign students to diversify their student body and introduce worldly perspectives to their campuses. Capping international student enrollment limits the diverse viewpoints they bring to campus dialogue and forces colleges to shape their student bodies around the federal government’s desires rather than their own institutional values.
While the compact seeks to protect conservative ideas on college campuses, it does not extend the same protection for liberal ideas, indicating a stark blemish in a compact that aims to promote fairness. Signatories would not be adopting “a policy protecting academic freedom in classrooms, teaching, research and scholarship,” as the compact outlines. Instead, they would be reshaping political discussion and dialogue at their schools to match the administration’s partisan agenda.
Universities shouldn’t have to mold themselves to fit the federal government’s priorities. While some may comply to reap the benefits of preferential treatment or to avoid the financial repercussions, others — including USC, Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — have openly declined to sign the compact. Higher education institutions must protect and prioritize the autonomy of themselves and their students.
