Overview

• MIT became the first invited institution to formally reject the compact, with President Sally Kornbluth arguing research support should be awarded solely on scientific merit.
• The White House criticized MIT’s decision, with spokeswoman Liz Huston saying schools that refuse are yielding to radical, left‑wing bureaucrats.
• The administration has moved to offer the compact to all higher education institutions, according to a person familiar with the discussions, as most of the original nine schools continue to deliberate.
• Policy requirements reported in the compact include banning DEI programs, capping international undergraduate enrollment around 15 percent, imposing a five‑year tuition freeze, and enforcing binary gender definitions and single‑sex spaces.
• Pushback is mounting from faculty groups and on campuses, including an AAUP call to reject the deal, a Vanderbilt petition with more than 1,100 signatures, and a warning from California Governor Gavin Newsom that state funding could be withheld from universities that sign, while enforcement details from Washington remain unclear.