The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has rejected a Trump administration proposal which detailed policies to follow in exchange for preferential access to federal funds.
In a letter to US Education Secretary Linda McMahon, MIT’s president Sally Kornbluth said the proposal would “restrict freedom of expression” on campus and was inconsistent with the university’s core values.
Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas were also approached by the administration to sign the deal.
It would see universities cap foreign admissions, restrict university leaders’ comments on political events, and adopt a binary definition of gender.
The US education department asked the schools to review and agree to what it called a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”. It contained a laundry list of longstanding conservative grievances the administration has clashed with several other universities over.
It asked the universities to use standardised tests for most admissions and to “commit to using lawful force if necessary” to respond to and prevent campus protests. The schools would also commit to creating an environment where conservative ideas could be freely expressed.
Schools would agree to cap international student admissions at the undergraduate level at 15% and “no more than 5 percent shall be from any one country”. It requests schools to screen foreign students for hostility to the US and to report school discipline records to federal authorities.
The schools would have to return federal funds and private donations to their benefactors if any of the terms were violated.
Kornbluth said MIT already used standardised tests, had pledged on its own to create a culture of free expression on campus and that its international enrolment was around 10%.
“We freely choose these values because they’re right, and we live by them because they support our mission,” Kornbluth said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, rejecting the proposal that was published on Friday.
The compact “includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution,” she said. “And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”
“In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence… Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.”
MIT has already faced federal funding cuts under the Trump administration. In February, it joined other universities to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration after cuts to health research funding. It also filed court briefs in support of its neighbour Harvard University, which is also suing the administration over funding cuts.
Other universities approached by the government are: the University of Arizona, Dartmouth College, Vanderbilt University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Virginia.
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom warned last week the state would cut funding to any local university that accepted the deal.
“If any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding — including Cal Grants — instantly,” Newsom said. “California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”
