As deadline for Trump's colleges compact looms, schools signal dissent [View all]
Source: NPR
October 20, 2025 5:00 AM ET
Monday is the deadline for a handful of universities to agree to a list of commitments that align with the Trump administration's political priorities, in exchange for preferential access to federal funds.
The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education was sent on Oct. 1 to nine colleges — both private and public — and would require schools to bar transgender people from using restrooms or playing in sports that align with their gender identities, freeze tuition for five years, limit international student enrollment, and require standardized tests for admissions, among other things. Of the original nine schools that received the document, as of Sunday night, six have indicated they are not planning on signing.
MIT was the first school to issue a public statement: The document "includes principles with which we disagree," MIT President Sally Kornbluth wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Oct. 10. "And fundamentally the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone." Following that rejection, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that all colleges would be able to sign on, not just those that received the letter. Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California followed, with statements "respectfully" declining the offer.
On Friday, the White House held a virtual meeting with colleges that hadn't yet sent rejection notices, including the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia. Three additional schools were also invited: Arizona State University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Kansas, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5579618/trump-college-university-compact-uva-mit-dartmouth
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