WASHINGTON (AP) – The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said Friday it was “untenable.” white house proposal It calls on MIT and eight other universities to adopt President Donald Trump’s political policies in exchange for favorable access to federal funds.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology was one of the first companies to take a strong position either for or against the deal, which the White House billed as offering “multiple positive benefits” including “substantial and meaningful federal subsidies.” University of Texas System leaders said their flagship university in Austin was honored to have been invited, but most other campuses have remained silent while considering the document.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a letter to Trump administration officials that MIT disagrees with the proposal’s restrictive provisions. freedom of speech and university independence. She said this contradicts MIT’s belief that scientific funding should be awarded based solely on merit.
“Therefore, with all due respect, I cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education,” Kornbluth said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House officials.
The Higher Education Agreement distributed last week requires universities to undertake a wide range of initiatives in line with President Trump’s policies. political agenda Topics range from entrance exams and women’s sports to freedom of speech and student discipline. Universities are being asked to provide “limited and targeted feedback” by October 20th and make a decision by November 21st at the latest.
Other universities that received 10-page proposals were Vanderbilt University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, University of Southern California, University of Arizona, Brown University, and University of Virginia. It was not clear how the schools were selected or why.
Universities are under increasing pressure to reject the proposal
University leaders face immense pressure to reject the deal amid opposition from students, faculty, free speech advocates, and higher education organizations. Leaders at some other universities have called it extortion. The mayor and city council of Tucson, home to the University of Arizona, formally opposed the deal, calling it “unacceptable federal interference.”
Even some conservatives have dismissed the compact as a bad approach. Frederick Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said this is “deeply problematic” and that the government’s request “has no basis in law.”
At the University of Virginia, officials this week sought campus feedback on the proposal. In a message, university leaders said it was “very difficult” to accept the agreement’s specific terms and that the decision would be based on “the principles of academic freedom and free inquiry.”
Democrats in the Virginia Senate threatened to cut funding to universities if they signed the agreement. In a letter to university leaders on Tuesday, Democratic leaders called the deal a trap and said the state “will not subsidize universities that cede their independence to federal political control.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued a similar ultimatum to the University of Southern California last week.
Agreement presents new strategy for seeking reform
In a letter to universities, the government said the agreement strengthens and renews the “mutually beneficial relationship” between universities and government. That bond faces unprecedented strain as the White House save billions of dollars He has accused campus research funding of anti-Semitism and liberal bias.
The letter says the agreement is a positive attempt at reform, even as the government continues to enforce it through other means. Nine universities were invited to become “initial signatories.”
Kornbluth’s letter did not explicitly reject the agreement, but suggested that its terms were unworkable. Still, she said MIT has already agreed to some of the values outlined in the agreement, including prioritizing merit in admissions and increasing the university’s tuition burden.
Kornbluth said MIT was the first to reinstate standardized admissions test requirements after the COVID-19 pandemic, granting admission based on students’ talent, ideas and effort. Students entering the department whose families have annual incomes of less than $200,000 pay no tuition at all, she added.
“We freely choose these values because they are true, and we live by them because they support our mission,” Kornbluth wrote.
As part of the agreement, the White House asked universities to freeze tuition fees for U.S. students for five years. Those with endowments of more than $2 million per department could not charge any tuition at all to students pursuing “hard science” programs.
It called on universities to require all undergraduate applicants to take the SAT or ACT and to exclude race, gender, and other characteristics from undergraduate applicants. Admission decision. Signing schools would also have to accept the government’s binary definition of gender and apply it to campus restrooms and sports teams.
Many of the Compacts focus on promoting conservative perspectives. To make the campus a “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” the campus pledges to take steps including “transforming or eliminating organizational units that intentionally punish, marginalize, or even provoke violence against conservative ideas.”
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