On October 1, 2025, U. S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent a proposal entitled "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" to nine U.S. universities:
- Brown University
- Dartmouth College
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Arizona
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Southern California
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Virginia
- Vanderbilt University
Along with the proposal a letter was sent notifying universities to respond by October 20 with any feedback, and to make a final decision about signing the compact agreement by November 21. The letter also described the compact as a way to help university students "grow into resilient, curious, and moral leaders, inspired by American and Western values," it said it includes "multiple positive benefits," and that it provides "substantial and meaningful federal grants" for universities who sign the compact.
Source:
Wolf, Alex; F. Linehan, Patrick; Maloney, Karima; J. Draughon, Dwight, Jr.; Padley, Drew; Evans, Tyler. (October 23, 2025). ""White House Looks to Seize Control of Higher Education Policy Through 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education'". Steptoe. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
(November 11, 2025). "What is Trump's Compact for Higher Education? And More Frequently Asked Questions". PEN America. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
"Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
On October 12, 2025, Donald Trump posted the following on Truth Social:
Throughout most of our History, America's Colleges and Universities have been a Great Strategic Asset of the United States. Tragically, however, much of Higher Education has lost its way, and is now corrupting our Youth and Society with WOKE, SOCIALIST, and ANTI-AMERICAN Ideology that serves as justification for discriminatory practices by Universities that are Unconstitutional and Unlawful. My Administration is fixing this, and FAST, with our Great Reform Agenda in Higher Education. Our Nation's Great Institutions will once again prioritize Merit and Hard Work before "group identity," resulting in tremendous new Research and Opportunity to benefit all Americans, and Equality being honored in American Businesses, Courts, and Culture.
To those Universities that continue to illegally discriminate based on Race or Sex, we will continue our current efforts to swiftly and forcefully enforce Federal Law. But for those Institutions that want to quickly return to the pursuit of Truth and Achievement, they are invited to enter into a forward looking Agreement with the Federal Government to help bring about the Golden Age of Academic Excellence in Higher Education. They will agree to follow Federal Law, and protect the Civil Rights of ALL Students, Faculty, and Employees on Campuses. They will stop racist Admission Policies, and put an end to unjust and illegal discrimination in Faculty Hiring. These Institutions will commit to High Quality Standards, an Intellectually Open Campus Environment (including the protection of Free Speech and Debate), Institutional Neutrality, major steps toward Affordability for Students, and an end to the entanglement of Foreign Money in the Finances of American Universities. Americans deserve to be treated in accordance with their demonstrated achievements and potential, and upon regaining this fundamentally American Value, our Nation will be unstoppable. We will once again have Universities that develop the talents of our amazing young people to lead lives of Success and Fulfillment, cultivate a Love of Country and a Culture of Achievement, and help make all Americans proud, safe, prosperous, and free!
Shortly afterwards it was reported that the compact had been offered to all colleges.
On October 17, 2025, a meeting took place at the White House to "gather input and feedback" from several universities regarding the compact. Eight universities were invited to the meeting (Arizona State University, the University of Kansas, Washington University in St. Louis, Dartmouth, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University), but it's unclear from media reports as to which universities were in attendance.
Source:
Agarwal, Kritika. (October 24, 2025). "White House Invites Universities to Provide Feedback on Higher Ed Compact". Association of American Universities. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
As of November 10, 2025, of the nine original universities targeted, seven have declined to sign (see excerpts from declination letters below). Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin have not made a formal decision on whether to sign. Two other colleges (New College of Florida, a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, and Valley Forge Military College, a two-year junior college in Wayne, Pennsylvania) have said they are interested in signing.
Source:
Wolf, Alex; F. Linehan, Patrick; Maloney, Karima; J. Draughon, Dwight, Jr.; Padley, Drew; Evans, Tyler. (October 23, 2025). "White House Looks to Seize Control of Higher Education Policy Through 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education'". Steptoe. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology responded in part by saying (bold added for emphasis):
These values [MIT values] and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission – work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
Source:
(November 11, 2025). "What is Trump's Compact for Higher Education? And More Frequently Asked Questions". PEN America. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
Suresh Garimella, president of the University of Arizona responded in part by saying (bold added for emphasis):
A number of the proposed federal recommendations deserve thoughtful consideration as our national higher education system could benefit from reforms that have been much too slow to develop. In fact, many of the proposed ideas are already in place at the U of A. At the same time, principles like academic freedom, merit-based research funding, and institutional independence are foundational and must be preserved. As a result, the university has not agreed to the terms outlined in the draft proposal, but instead submitted a Statement of Principles to the Department of Education that I am sharing with you.
Source:
Garimella, Suresh. (October 20, 2025). "Update on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education". University of Arizona. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
Beong-Soo Kim, interim president of the University of Southern California responded in part by saying (bold added for emphasis):
Without an environment where students and faculty can freely debate a broad range of ideas and viewpoints, we could not produce outstanding research, teach our students to think critically, or instill the civic values needed for our democracy to flourish.
USC also takes its legal obligations very seriously, including the laws prohibiting discrimination in admissions, hiring, and student discipline.
Notwithstanding these areas of alignment, we are concerned that even though the Compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the Compact seeks to promote. Other countries whose governments lack America's commitment to freedom and democracy have shown how academic excellence can suffer when shifting external priorities tilt the research playing field away from free, meritocratic competition.
Source:
Kim, Beong-Soo. (October 16, 2025). "Update from Interim President Kim". University of Southern California. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
Read response letters from other universities here.
PEN America, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights, responded to the compact by saying:
PEN America believes the compact is nothing short of an effort by the Trump administration to extend direct ideological control over colleges and universities, and thereby, the entire higher education sector. Its demands would erode institutional autonomy, the principle that universities should be broadly free to govern themselves without overbearing interference from politicians or lawmakers. Indeed, institutional autonomy is what helps ensure universities do not become propaganda machines for their governments, given their extraordinary influence over knowledge, education, and the exchange of ideas.
Taken in combination with the numerous other steps the administration has taken since January 2025 to erode free expression across the U.S., including issuing executive orders to surveil international student and staff expression, decimating research funding, detaining international students for protected protest and expression, and ordering the review of library collections at military academies, we see no other way to interpret the intentions of this document than an attempt at authoritarian control of higher education. We are heartened by the university leaders who have already rejected the compact and call on other universities and leaders in higher education to do so as well.
Source:
Kornbluth, Sally. (October 10, 2025). "Regarding the Compact". MIT. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
The American Council on Education has a web page entitled "Higher Education & The Trump Administration" which contains a comprehensive account of executing orders, announcements, actions related to federal funding and government restructuring, civil rights, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), immigration and international issues, gender and Title IX, and lawsuits related to education.