CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia has declined to join a controversial new higher education compact proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, which would tie preferred access to federal research funding to schools adopting specific policies on admissions, tuition and social issues.
Interim President Paul Mahoney announced Friday that UVA submitted formal comments on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education but would not sign on, citing the university’s commitment to academic independence and merit-based research.
“The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship,” Mahoney wrote in a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House officials. “We look forward to working together to develop alternative, lasting approaches to improving higher education.”
According to reporting by The Associated Press, five universities were invited to a White House call Friday to discuss the proposal. By late afternoon, UVA had become the fifth university to reject the offer. Others still weighing the decision include Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas and Vanderbilt University.
The Trump administration’s compact offers participating universities “multiple positive benefits,” including priority access to research grants, in exchange for adopting a 10-page set of commitments aligned with the president’s policy goals. Those provisions include eliminating race and sex from admissions decisions, adopting the government’s binary definition of “man” and “woman,” and ensuring institutional neutrality on current events.
“Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below, if the institution elects to forego federal benefits,” the compact states.
Mahoney said UVA’s approach already aligns with many of the compact’s goals, such as affordability, academic freedom and intellectual pluralism, but rejected any arrangement that conditions research funding on ideological or contractual terms.
The AP reports that the proposed compact has sparked widespread backlash across academia. More than 30 higher education organizations, led by the American Council on Education, urged the administration to withdraw the proposal, saying it would give the federal government unprecedented control over college academics and hinder free speech.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have also declined to participate, citing concerns over free expression and academic governance.
UVA officials said the university received extensive feedback from students, faculty and alumni through an online comment form before finalizing its decision. Mahoney reaffirmed UVA’s commitment to “free expression and free inquiry, academic freedom, affordability, intellectual pluralism, and institutional neutrality in an increasingly polarized world.”
UVA was one of nine universities initially invited to join the compact.
