MIT Rejects White House Proposal to Adopt Trump’s Political Agenda
The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sally Kornbluth, has expressed strong opposition to a White House proposal that asks MIT and eight other universities to adopt President Donald Trump’s political agenda in exchange for favorable access to federal funding. In a letter to Trump administration officials, Kornbluth stated that MIT “cannot support” the proposal, citing provisions that would limit free speech and the university’s independence.
The proposal, which was circulated last week, requires universities to make a wide range of commitments in line with Trump’s political agenda on topics from admissions and women’s sports to free speech and student discipline. The universities were invited to provide “limited, targeted feedback” by October 20 and make a decision no later than November 21. Other universities that received the proposal include Vanderbilt, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia.
Opposition to the Proposal
University leaders face immense pressure to reject the compact amid opposition from students, faculty, free speech advocates, and higher education groups. Leaders of some other universities have called it extortion. The mayor and city council in Tucson, home of the University of Arizona, formally opposed the compact, calling it an “unacceptable act of federal interference.” Even some conservatives have dismissed the compact as a bad approach, with Frederick Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, calling it “profoundly problematic” and saying the government’s requests are “ungrounded in law.”
At the University of Virginia, officials invited campus feedback on the proposal this week. A message from university leaders said it would be “very difficult” to accept certain terms of the arrangement and said the decision will be guided by “principles of academic freedom and free inquiry.” Democrats in the Virginia Senate threatened to cut the university’s funding if it signed the deal, calling the compact a trap and saying the state would not “subsidize an institution that has ceded its independence to federal political control.”
A New Tactic to Seek Reforms
The compact marks a new tactic to seek reforms, as the White House cuts billions of dollars in research funding from campuses it accuses of antisemitism and liberal bias. The administration said the compact would strengthen and renew the “mutually beneficial relationship” between universities and the government. However, Kornbluth’s letter suggested that the terms of the compact are unworkable and that MIT is already aligned with some of the values outlined in the deal, including prioritizing merit in admissions and making college more affordable.
As part of the compact, the White House asked universities to freeze tuition for U.S. students for five years and to require the SAT or ACT for all undergraduate applicants. Schools that sign on would also have to accept the government’s binary definition of gender and apply it to campus bathrooms and sports teams. Much of the compact centers on promoting conservative viewpoints, including taking steps to “transform or abolish institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
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