The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California announced they are rejecting a deal with the Trump administration to get better access to federal funding in exchange for restrictions on hiring and admissions standards.
“Earlier today, I informed the U.S. Department of Education that Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact,” Penn President J. Larry Jameson said in a statement.
“As requested, we also provided focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns,” he continued.
Jameson’s decision comes after the Faculty Senate at the university approved a resolution urging leadership to reject the administration’s offer, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim said he was concerned the agreement with the Trump administration would undermine academic freedom.
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, demanding that schools ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, limit international undergraduate enrollment to 15% or less, require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test and end grade inflation.
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 reads.
Aside from Pennsylvania and USC, the letter was sent to Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia.
A White House spokesperson said that universities rejecting the offer should not expect any further federal support.
“Merit should be the primary criteria for federal grant funding. Yet too many universities have abandoned academic excellence in favor of divisive and destructive efforts such as ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,'” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to Politico.
“The Compact for Academic Excellence embraces universities that reform their institutions to elevate common sense once again, ushering a new era of American innovation,” Huston continued.
“Any higher education institution unwilling to assume accountability and confront these overdue and necessary reforms will find itself without future government and taxpayers support.”
Brown and MIT also rejected the compact, to which no universities have signed on.
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