Overview

• Letters sent Wednesday invite Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Penn, USC, MIT, Texas at Austin, Arizona, Brown and Virginia to sign a 10-point Compact for Academic Excellence in exchange for priority consideration for some federal grants and White House access.
• The compact seeks a 15% cap on international undergraduates with no more than 5% from any single country, a five-year tuition freeze for U.S. students, mandatory SAT/ACT testing, and efforts to curb grade inflation.
• It bans consideration of race or sex in admissions and hiring, defines gender for campus facilities and women’s sports, and pushes “institutional neutrality” with steps to ensure a marketplace of ideas and to reform or abolish units seen as hostile to conservative viewpoints.
• Compliance would be monitored through annual anonymous polling and public reporting, with the Justice Department designated to review adherence and impose penalties including loss of the compact’s benefits and potential repayment of funds.
• The move expands an ongoing pressure campaign that has included funding freezes and settlements with Columbia and Brown; UT’s regents welcomed engagement, other schools are reviewing the proposal, and higher-education groups warn of threats to campus independence and free speech with legal challenges expected.