The White House met with some universities on Friday about the proposal after four universities rejected the Trump administration’s higher education deal.
A White House official confirmed plans for the meeting Inside higher education But it was not revealed what the purpose of the gathering was or which universities would be participating. Nine universities have been asked to provide feedback on the wide-ranging proposal by 20 October.
The virtual meeting is planned to include White House adviser May Melman and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vincent Haley, according to sources familiar with White House plans. Postman, Haley and Education Minister Linda McMahon signed a letter sent to the top nine about the agreement.
So far, MIT, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have all publicly rejected the deal. Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University have not said whether they agree to the agreement. UVA said late Friday afternoon it would not agree to the proposal.
wall street journal Arizona State University, the University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis were also invited, the report said. according to MagazineThe purpose of the meeting is to answer questions about the proposal and find common ground with agencies.
Inside higher education We contacted the universities but no one confirmed whether they were attending.
The nine-page document would require universities to make a series of far-reaching changes, from abolishing academic departments or programs that “deliberately punish, demean or even inspire violence against conservative ideas” to capping international undergraduate enrollment at 15 percent. Among other provisions, institutions must agree to freeze tuition and require standardized admissions testing.
Trump officials said signatories could get more grants and threatened to provide funding to those who didn’t agree. The Justice Department will enforce the terms of the agreement, which are vague and not entirely clear.
After USC issued a letter rejecting the proposal, White House spokesperson Liz Huston told the press Los Angeles Times “As long as the university is not begging for federal funding, the university is free to implement any legal policy they want.”
After being first rejected by MIT last Friday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that all colleges are now open to signing. The White House said some agencies have reached out to help.
A source familiar with the White House’s plans said the meeting “appears to be an attempt to regain momentum by threatening institutions to sign on, even though doing so is clearly not in the school’s interest.”
Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, former Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Vanderbilt University trustee, wrote in an article Magazine The op-ed said the compact is an example of federal overreach and is similar to previous efforts to impose uniform national standards on K-12 schools.
“The higher education compact proposed by Mr. Trump could spark some helpful conversations around reform,” he wrote. “But the federal government shouldn’t be trying to regulate the 6,000 colleges and universities across the country.”
joint warning
The American Council on Education and 35 other organizations warned in a joint statement released Friday that “the compact’s provisions threaten to undermine the very qualities that make our system stand out.”
The signatory organizations asked the government to withdraw from the agreement, stating that “there is room for improvement in higher education”.
But the letter noted that “the agreement is a step in the wrong direction.” “No matter your politics, the rules it creates are harmful to higher education and our country as a whole.”
The letter is just the latest sign of growing resistance to the compact in higher education. Faculty, staff and students from the first universities rallied on Friday to urge their administrators to reject the deal. More than 1,000 people attended the UVA event, according to the American Association of University Professors, which organizes the national day of action.
Earlier this month, the Association of American Colleges and Universities issued a statement harshly criticizing the agreement. The statement said in part that college and university presidents “cannot trade academic freedom for federal funding” and that institutions should not be “affected by the changing priorities of successive administrations.” Nearly 150 university presidents and associations endorsed the statement.
The joint statement from ACE and others, including the AAC&U, is a way to show that the associations are united in their opposition, which the letter said “encompasses the American higher education community and colleges and universities across the country.”
“What this Compact provides is precisely government control of universities’ fundamental and necessary freedoms—the freedom to decide who teaches, what is taught, and by whom,” the statement read. “Now more than ever, we must come together to protect the values and principles that have made American higher education the global standard.”
But not everyone in the industry has signed on.
Major groups absent from the list of signatories include the Association of Public and Land-grant Colleges and Universities, the Association of American Universities, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Career Colleges and Universities and the American Association of Community Colleges.
Inside higher education Each group was contacted to ask if they had been invited to sign and, if so, why they had chosen not to do so. Reactions vary.
The AAU noted that it issued its own statement on October 10. AASCU said it was also invited to sign and had “grave concerns” about the agreement but decided to choose another way to express its views.
“We are communicating with our member institutions and policymakers in a variety of ways about the administration’s requirements and any impacts they may have on regional public universities,” Charles Welch, president of the association, said in an email.
As of the time of publication, other organizations had not responded.
