The University of Texas (UT) at Austin stands alone as the only university to stay silent on the White House’s proposal for preferential funding treatment.
In October, the Trump administration issued a request to nine universities — including UT — asking them to adopt a new set of federal principles in exchange for preferred access to research grants, contracts and other funding programs. The proposal, known as the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, represents the administration’s latest effort to reshape university operations through a standardized set of academic, governance and conduct requirements.
Federal officials initially asked universities to respond by Nov. 21 but have since extended the deadline, saying the change is intended to ensure maximum participation and accommodate institutions that have been “responsive and cooperative.”
Key provisions in the compact would cap international enrollment at 15 percent, require stricter vetting and mandate sharing certain student records with federal agencies. The compact also calls for universities to recognize only two genders, eliminate departments accused of promoting hostility toward conservative ideas and prohibit staff from expressing political views while acting in an official role.
The proposal further requires institutions to ban the use of race or gender in hiring and admissions and to impose stricter limits on campus protests. Universities would also be expected to maintain ideological diversity across academic departments and show how courses promote civic values and Western civilization.
The compact also requires universities to refrain from grade inflation or deflation, mandate standardized test scores for undergraduate admissions, implement a five-year tuition freeze and provide full tuition refunds for students who withdraw within their first academic year.
Failure to comply with the compact could result in significant penalties, including the return of all federal funds awarded during a year of violation and, upon request, private contributions received during the same period.
UT already meets several conditions in the proposal. The university does not consider race or sex in admissions, reinstated standardized test requirements last year and is under a tuition freeze through at least the 2026–27 academic year. International undergraduates make up 4.5 percent of the student body, well below the compact’s cap.
However, several components of the compact conflict with state law, federal privacy protections or existing university policies. Requirements involving gender identity definitions, restrictions on campus demonstrations, prohibitions on employee political expression and the sharing of student records with federal agencies would require changes not currently permitted at the state or system level. UT Provost William Inboden acknowledged areas of alignment with the administration’s goals but also noted limitations, stating “some of the procedural enforcement of the compact would clash with state law and some of our other institutional prerogatives.”
Of the nine universities contacted — Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, USC, UT, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt — UT is the only school that has not released a public statement on whether it will sign the compact. Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Penn, USC and Virginia have rejected the proposal. Vanderbilt told its campus community that it was invited to provide feedback rather than accept the compact outright. The University of Arizona has opted to submit its own Statement of Principles to the Department of Education rather than agree to the compact.
Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, from Wikimedia Commons
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