Overview

• MIT President Sally Kornbluth told Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a public letter that the proposed terms would undercut free speech and the university’s independence.
• The administration offered nine institutions preferential access to federal funds in exchange for policy changes, including dropping gender and race as admissions factors.
• The proposal also calls on universities to foster a more welcoming environment for “conservative ideas” and to transform or abolish units viewed as penalizing such views.
• Universities identified in the offer include Arizona, Pennsylvania, Southern California, Texas, Virginia, Brown, Dartmouth and Vanderbilt.
• The standoff follows earlier funding battles, including a federal judge’s September ruling that lifted a freeze on more than $2 billion for Harvard after it sued.