The Trump administration recently proposed a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” to Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Arizona, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.
The compact “would require colleges to freeze tuition for five years, cap the enrollment of international students and commit to strict definitions of gender,” in addition to ensuring that their campuses are run in a manner that would not question or give resistance to conservative ideas. In exchange, the administration would give the universities priority in receiving federal funding.
According to the Texas Tribune, the UT System board of regents chair Kevin Eltife is eager to engage with this compact, and UT-Austin has started reviewing the ways that gender identity is taught around campus in an effort to comply with the restrictions of this compact.
The other universities have not made public remarks on the offer.
Matthew Hall, the director of the Rooney Democracy Institute and professor of constitutional studies at Notre Dame, argued the compact was a “fascist” tactic.
“All fascist politicians adopt similar tactics, and one of the most important tactics is to create a sense of unreality by undermining objective facts. Therefore, fascist politicians are threatened by independent institutions that are designed to distinguish fact from fiction: courts, independent government agencies, the press, scientists, and — of course — universities ... The compact being presented to universities is a blatant, unprecedented attempt by the executive branch to take control of public and private universities,” Hall wrote in an email to The Observer.
James Curry, a Notre Dame political science professor, clarified that using federal funding to shape university policy isn't new. Similarly, President Barack Obama asked states to get waivers from No Child Left Behind before they could receive federal education funds.
“This is an attempt by the president to do what presidents often try to do, but it is in a seemingly more targeted, less bureaucratic way of trying to use what leverage he has over the expenditure of federal funds to try to shape policy the way that he wants,” Curry said.
Alex Funk, the co-political director of College Democrats, said the compact is an effort to limit academic freedom.
“The administration is holding universities hostage and assaulting free speech in the process. Donald Trump is testing these universities to see how far he can go in demanding loyalty from institutions around this country,” she wrote in an email to The Observer.
In light of these concerns, Funk asked universities to “stand up to this extortion attempt.”
She wrote she hopes “that Notre Dame has a spine and continues to stand up for the best interests of our community.”
College Republicans declined to comment, writing they had not studied the topic at this time.
While Curry declined to make recommendations as to how universities should navigate Trump’s request, he did note that he thinks schools are likely to oblige to the demands.
“Past recent history suggests that they will agree to what is offered to them as long as they think it will mean that it puts them in a better financial situation,” he said.
Hall also pointed to lessons from history as an indication of how the request will play out, but he warned that “universities that hope to appease the administration by agreeing to this compact will be sorely disappointed.”
He continued by writing, “The fate of academic freedom in this country is likely tied to the broader struggle against these fascist political tactics that have similarly targeted independent agencies (like the Bureau of Labor Statistics), news organizations (like the New York Times), media outlets (like ABC and Jimmy Kimmel), private business (like prominent law firms), and any institution in society that refuses to bend the knee."
As conservative Americans lose trust in higher education, Curry said universities are becoming more skewed towards Democratic voters. He argued repairing this distrust requires reform on multiple levels.
“Universities are going to have to try to navigate where they try to rebuild broader support for what they do, their mission and how they function,” he said. “That is going to require a bit of a mix of changes to public policy and some internal reforms taken on by the part of the universities themselves to better market themselves and present themselves to different swaths of society in a way that they sort of have not in the last couple decades.”
Relying on federal funds can be dangerous for universities, Curry said, as the funding is often subject to political pressure. “It has always been dangerous, in my view, for universities to be reliant on any federal funds to function because it is always somewhat precarious,” he said.
As to the specifics of the Trump Administration’s requests, Curry cited concerns that forcing international students to seek degrees outside of the United States will strengthen the technological skill and work force of our competitors.
“If we make it harder for [the best and brightest] students to come here, that is going to advantage the abilities of universities in Asia or in Europe, which are the primary competitors for American higher education,” Curry said.
Since it doesn't have a medical center dependent on large National Institute of Health Funding grants, Notre Dame is less reliant on federal funding. However, Curry noted that Notre Dame suffers more than others when endowment tax regulations tighten due to the large size of its endowment.
In April, Notre Dame President Fr. Robert Dowd signed the “Call for Constructive Engagement” condemning administrative overreach of higher education. When asked whether the compact is in conflict with the call, Curry declined to answer, saying that he hasn't read the initiative recently. Hall declined to answer the question.
Notre Dame declined to comment on the topic of the University Compact. “While we appreciate the opportunity to respond, we cannot possibly speculate on such a hypothetical,” University spokesperson Erin Blasko wrote in an email to The Observer.
