Photo by Kevin Dickey/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin Dickey/Getty Images
MIT has rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to sign a Compact on Academic Excellence in Higher Education that would have required sweeping changes across the campus in exchange for preferential treatment for federal funding.
MIT was the first of nine universities invited to join the compact to publicly reject the proposal, which sparked a backlash from other higher education leaders, faculty and experts who viewed the document as a way to take away institutional autonomy. The Trump administration also asked Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University to sign on. Most have offered vague statements saying they are reviewing the agreement, although Texas officials have expressed some enthusiasm for the proposal.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced the move in a letter to the campus community Friday morning that included a copy of her response to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
In his response to McMahon, Kornbluth highlighted some of the areas the White House emphasized in the agreement, such as focusing on merit, keeping costs low for students and protecting free speech.
“These values and other practices at MIT meet or exceed many of the standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely chose these values because they are right, and we live by them because they support our mission of doing work of tremendous value to America’s prosperity, competitiveness, health, and security. Of course, MIT complies with the law,” Kornbluth wrote.
She also noted that MIT disagrees with some of the letter’s demands, arguing that they “would limit free speech and our independence as an institution” and that “the premise of the document is inconsistent with MIT’s belief that funding should be based on merit.”
“We believe that America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence,” Kornbluth wrote. “In this free marketplace of ideas, those at MIT are happy to compete with the best, without preference. Therefore, out of respect, we cannot support proposed solutions to the problems facing higher education.”
This is a breaking news article and will be updated.
