We recently wrote to you about the Trump administration’s new “compact” with universities. We promised to keep you updated, and there’s much to report.
As a refresher, on Oct. 1, the Trump administration sent a 10-page “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education” to nine of the nation’s top universities, including the University of Arizona, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University.
The universities receiving the letters were told they had until Oct. 20 to reply with feedback. Ultimately, the Trump administration promised priority access to federal funding to the universities that signed on to the compact.
With today’s deadline for feedback, we’re seeing several public responses to the compact, with six universities – MIT, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia and Dartmouth College – all publicly rejecting the compact. The responses are encouraging and something we at the Coalition for Carolina fully endorse. This compact would be a disaster for UNC-Chapel Hill and universities around the country.
While only nine institutions received the initial document for input, there are now reports that the compact has been extended to every university in the country. If that’s the case, leaders of UNC-Chapel Hill and the UNC System should reject the corrosive compact.
The terms of the compact would give federal authorities undue influence over how universities operate. It is an assault on self-governance, free speech, free thought and could reap financial, ethical and logistical consequences on many universities that are not built for this one-size-fits-all approach that the White House is demanding.
At Carolina, we have a long history of not accepting money from private sources with strings attached. Turning down public resources would be for the same reason – to protect our integrity and independence as an institution.
The compact includes several provisions that run counter to the interests or current operational realities of UNC. For instance, the compact calls on universities to freeze undergraduate tuition for the next five years. In the case of UNC, tuition freezes are in the purview of the UNC Board of Governors overseeing the entire system, not individual campuses. UNC’s tuition has already been frozen since 2016.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth also highlighted an important point that could be reiterated in the case of UNC, saying, “fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”
UNC has gone through a competitive review process to receive merit-based scientific funding, helping Carolina secure its place as a top-10 research institution. As President Kornbluth asserts, the compact undermines merit-based decisions for scientific funding, which will hurt research powerhouses like MIT and Carolina.
The terms of this compact conflict with Carolina’s interests and compromise our institutional integrity, and we cannot stand for it.
Sign our petition calling on the UNC Board of Governors, the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, President Peter Hans, Chancellor Lee Roberts and members of the North Carolina General Assembly to reject this compact on behalf of UNC-Chapel Hill and the UNC System.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
A compact of this kind is unprecedented to say the least. Meeting the demands of the compact would weaken higher education as a whole and could be extremely consequential for some universities – including ours. It is encouraging to see so many students, faculty, university leaders and alumni all across the country standing strong against it. It is important we stand with them.
You can read MIT’s rejection letter here, Brown’s rejection letter here, USC’s rejection letter here, UVA’s rejection letter here and Dartmouth’s rejection letter here. You can read Penn President J. Larry Jameson’s letter to the Penn community here.
Your outreach to university leaders does matter. It’s why we’re asking you to sign our petition and be part of this important conversation about the future of our university and those all across the country.
As MIT President Sally Kornbluth told her university community:
“From the messages I’ve received, I know this is on the minds of many of you and that you care deeply about the Institute’s mission, its values and each other. I do too.
After considerable thought and consultation with leaders from across MIT, today I sent the following reply to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon.”
And as Penn President Larry Jameson told his community:
“Since receiving the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education on October 1, I have sought input from faculty, alumni, trustees, students, staff and others who care deeply about Penn. The goal was to ensure that our response reflected our values and the perspectives of our broad community.
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.”
Make sure Carolina’s leaders hear from you, too. Thanks for standing with us.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
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