Overview
- Anonymously sourced reporting says the administration is inviting all U.S. colleges to consider a compact that ties preferential federal funding to compliance with new campus policies.
- MIT formally rejected the offer, with President Sally Kornbluth saying the compact conflicts with the institute’s belief that scientific funding should rest on scientific merit alone.
- Reported terms include a five-year tuition freeze, caps on international enrollment, restrictions on DEI initiatives, mandated institutional neutrality, and rules on speech and gender-related policies, with potential loss of grants for noncompliance.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom warned that any California university signing the agreement would forfeit billions in state support, including Cal Grants, calling the plan a hostile takeover of universities.
- Campus pushback is mounting, including an AAUP call for colleges to reject the compact and a Vanderbilt petition surpassing 1,100 signatures urging the university not to sign.