Overview
- None of the nine initially invited universities have agreed to the compact, with MIT, Brown, Penn, USC, Dartmouth, Virginia and the University of Arizona publicly declining.
- Vanderbilt and the University of Texas at Austin have not committed, engaging in discussions after a White House call with undecided campuses on Friday.
- The draft compact ties preferential research funding to sweeping changes including a five‑year tuition freeze, a 15% cap on international undergraduates, bans on considering race or sex in admissions and hiring, institutional neutrality rules, and tough protest enforcement.
- Enforcement would run through the Justice Department with potential penalties such as loss of benefits and repayment of advanced federal funds, a structure critics say grants the executive branch excessive leverage.
- The administration has invited additional schools and set an Oct. 20 feedback window with a target decision date of Nov. 21, advancing the proposal after months of funding freezes that led to court rulings restoring grants at Harvard and settlements at Columbia and Brown.