American colleges and universities are facing a conservative assault with the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence.” This threatens to withhold federal funding unless schools “voluntarily” accept sweeping government controls over what is taught, who is taught, and who can teach.
This isn’t about excellence. It is a direct attack on academic freedom and schools’ rights to govern themselves. The “compact” holds federal research money and student financial aid hostage to force a right-wing political agenda onto campuses. Its demands, including blocking international students, freezing tuition, and imposing “neutrality” (i.e., right-wing) rules on teaching, are designed to silence diverse voices and replace open discussions with government-approved conservative curricula and propaganda. Our fine universities are valuable centers of innovation and free thought. This “compact” would replace thoughtful debate and diverse ideas with a single, narrow conservative viewpoint. The quality of American education and the spirit of free inquiry that makes our universities the envy of the world is at stake.
Many of us have benefitted from this opportunity. As alumni, we have a responsibility to speak up. We must urge our alma maters to reject this “compact” to protect their core mission (which schools including Harvard, MIT, UCLA, and others have already done).
This is not a partisan issue — it’s about defending the freedom to teach and learn; the freedom of education, which is often attacked by dictatorships.
Contact our university presidents and trustees and urge them to courageously defend their students, faculty, and academic freedom. And to unite in a coalition to resist and protect our schools from government takeover. Remind them that any short-term benefit from agreeing to this “compact” pales in light of the severe long-term damage it would cause. Our universities must remain places for open minds and free inquiry, not for government thought control. Please write and insist our school administrations bravely and wisely defend our schools. Our universities must remain places for open minds, not tools for political control. Now more than ever, our country needs colleges and universities where people are free to think and learn. Let’s show them our support today.
Reed Schimmelfing
Northampton