The Trump administration wants colleges to agree to a list of operating principles to receive preferential treatment regarding federal funds, according to reports.
Universities that sign the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” will get “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants,” according to a letter sent to some college leaders, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The 10-point memo is intended to elevate university standards and performance, the Journal noted. It also seeks to curb the cost of college.
The White House on Wednesday sent letters to an initial group of nine universities to sign the agreement.
“Our hope is that a lot of schools see that this is highly reasonable,” May Mailman, senior adviser for special projects at the White House, told the outlet.
The compact demands that schools do the following:
- Ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions.
- Freeze tuition for five years.
- Limit international undergrad enrollment to 15% or less.
- Require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test.
- End grade inflation, which is the increase in average grades, absent higher academic achievement.
The memo also asks universities to ensure a “vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus” and abolish departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
“Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those” if the institution elects to forgo federal benefits, the memo says.
The White House’s letter was sent to Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, Brown University and the University of Virginia, the Journal reported.
News of the compact follows the administration’s attempts to withhold funding and penalize schools that have promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and failed to police on-campus anti-Israel protests and activities.
Columbia University and Brown University are among schools that have struck multimillion-dollar deals with the administration.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration has reached a deal with Harvard University after months of negotiations.
On Monday, the California State University system said the administration had filed an antisemitism complaint against its schools in the latest federal probe into a school over protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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