Trump's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, rejected the seventh time

Screenshot from YouTube video

The University of Arizona has rejected a new plan from the Trump administration. The plan is called the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. The intention is for the the compact to offer federal funding priority to schools that agree to follow certain government rules.

Think about it for a second, it's an indirect way of forcing people to accept anything and everything the administration will do, just to get funds and support from them. That's a path to have control over the educational system and that's why it's sounds and looks fishy to the general public and the university students.

The reason is that these rules they will have to follow to get funds are based on the administration’s conservative ideas about how universities should work. So what if it goes against the interests of the students?

The compact asks schools to limit how race or ethnicity are used in hiring for jobs and in student admissions. The compact also requires the schools to use strict definitions of gender on campus.

There's even another rule in the compact which says universities must freeze tuition for five years. It also asks them to cap international undergraduate students at 15% of the student body.

If all is followed there are promises made. The administration with the compact promises a couple of positive benefits like new federal research grants for schools that sign.

The deadline for feedback on the draft compact was October 20, 2025 which was yesterday from the time of posting this article.

The University of Arizona sent a letter to the president, refusing to sign his agreement and they happen to be the seventh U.S. university to reject the compact agreement.

Other schools like Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, UPenn, USC and the University of Virginia also rejected the compact. Some of the biggest University names in America and even the world so it's a big deal.

But so far, there are two others, that is Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin who are yet to make their final decision regarding the compact. Vanderbilt’s chancellor said that his school’s values of free expression and merit based research may not fit the compact’s demands. The main problem with the demands is that, it clearly goes against some freedom and values. It's so sensitive, the universities would rather do without funding from Trump's administration.

Even at UT Austin, there were students and teachers who started a petition asking the school authorities to reject the compact. The petition already has more than 1,400 signatures from alumni and supporters.

The people at the universities are concerned that signing the compact would let the federal government control what is taught or researched in schools. It's going to give way to much power of control and influence to the government of the educational system which should be an independent thing.

The compact could or I probably should say would make it harder for schools to attract top talent and international students.

The Trump's administration said that the compact proposed is needed to bring back what they call truth and achievement in higher education. Universities clearly do not agree with this and they believe that real progress in America's educational system comes from open debate to make everything as transparent as possible, equal opportunities for everyone regardless of gender and backhi, and above all, academic independence.

This refusal to sign is a really strong push back for freedom and fairness in U.S. education.