The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the first to decline the deal last week, saying it would limit free speech and campus independence. Similar concerns were cited in rejections from Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California.
The compact — which aims to reshape higher education through negotiation rather than legislation — has stirred a wave of pushback from academia and beyond. It has been protested by students, condemned by faculty and drawn the ire of Democrats at all levels. Gov. Gavin Newsom in California and Democrats in Virginia have threatened to cut state funding to any university that signs on.
In a joint statement Friday, more than 30 higher education organizations urged the administration to withdraw the compact. Led by the American Council on Education, the coalition said the agreement would give the government unprecedented control over colleges’ academics and hinder free speech.
“The compact is a step in the wrong direction,” the statement said.
Many of the terms align with recent deals the White House struck with Brown and Columbia universities to close investigations into alleged discrimination and to restore research funding. But while those agreements included terms affirming the campuses’ academic freedom, the compact offers no such protection — one of the roadblocks cited in Brown’s rejection.
Trump has made it a priority to win obedience from powerful and prestigious universities that he describes as bastions of liberalism.
His top prize has been Harvard, the first university to openly defy a set of wide-ranging demands from the government. The White House went on to slash billions of dollars in research funding at Harvard, cancel its federal contracts and attempt to block the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students.
A federal judge in Boston reversed the funding cuts last month, calling it an unconstitutional overreach.
Several other prestigious universities have also had their funding cut amid investigations into alleged antisemitism.
White House officials described the offer as a proactive approach to shape policy at U.S. campuses even as the administration continues its enforcement efforts.
Trump on Sunday said colleges that sign on will help bring about “the Golden Age of Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Speaking on his Truth Social platform, he said it would reform universities that are “now corrupting our Youth and Society with WOKE, SOCIALIST, and ANTI-AMERICAN Ideology.”
