The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California joined the ranks of schools rejecting a deal from the Trump administration for preferential access to federal funds in exchange for agreeing to restrictions on school finances, hiring and admissions practices.
Penn President J. Larry Jameson declined the offer after seeking input from faculty, alumni, trustees, students and staff. But he did not provide the same detailed response as his peers at MIT and Brown, who rejected the compact citing academic freedom concerns.
“Earlier today, I informed the U.S. Department of Education that Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact. As requested, we also provided focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns,” Jameson said in a statement Thursday.
Although Jameson did not outline his specific concerns, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution urging the university’s leaders to decline the administration’s offer, first reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“Academic freedom: The liberty of individual faculty, trainees, and students to pursue facts and truth in their research, publications, teaching, and other forms of speech ensures that their work is guided by evidence and reason,” the resolution states. “The ‘Compact’ proposes an unprecedented and unconstitutional degree of governmental intrusion on academic freedom.”
USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim wrote in a statement Thursday that although there were areas of alignment, the university had concerns that it would undermine academic freedom.
The Education Department did not respond to request for comment.
The Trump administration offered the deal to nine colleges in recent weeks. The schools would be required to freeze their tuition for five years, cap their international undergraduate student enrollment at 15 percent, ensure sex is defined as “male” and “female” and adopt a policy of institutional neutrality, which means their campuses won’t weigh in on societal and political events.
But now White House officials are saying schools that don’t want to implement these “reforms” shouldn’t count on any federal support.
“Merit should be the primary criteria for federal grant funding. Yet too many universities have abandoned academic excellence in favor of divisive and destructive efforts such as ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,'” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to POLITICO. “The Compact for Academic Excellence embraces universities that reform their institutions to elevate common sense once again, ushering a new era of American innovation. Any higher education institution unwilling to assume accountability and confront these overdue and necessary reforms will find itself without future government and taxpayers support.”
The benefits of the agreement would include “increased overhead payments where feasible” and “substantial and meaningful federal grants,” according to a cover letter sent to university leaders alongside the agreement. However, the actual compact itself doesn’t explicitly state that these benefits will be available.
So far, no universities have agreed to the compact. Some have said that they are reviewing the compact or that they have been asked to provide feedback. White House officials previously told POLITICO that other universities have proactively reached out to participate in compact discussions.
