Will UT Austin sign Trump’s ‘compact’ for funding? Why Texas educators hope not

On Wednesday, Brown University became the second institution to reject a Trump administration deal to secure federal funding in return for changing policies over admissions, curriculum and surveillance over foreign students.

The University of Texas at Austin, which is one of the nine universities asked to sign the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” has yet to make a decision. But UT Austin’s board chair has said the university was “honored” to be among top institutions asked to sign the pact.

The terms of the compact have alarmed many in higher education, with instructors and professors across the country calling on state and federal officials to stop what they say is an attack on academic freedom and free speech on campuses.

Earlier, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also declined to sign the deal. The president of Brown said Wednesday the compact would compromise its ability to fulfill its mission, the New York Times reported.

“I am concerned that the compact by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance,” Christina H. Paxson told the administration in a letter.

The other six schools that were sent the agreement are Vanderbilt, Dartmouth College, the University of Virginia, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California.

Sally Kornbluth, the president of MIT, told its faculty, staff and students that the compact included principals that didn’t align with MIT’s. Kornbluth said America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on free thinking and open competition.

“In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preference,” Kornbluth said in the statement provided to the Star-Telegram. “Therefore, with respect we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.”

What UT Austin said about Trump’s compact with universities

Kevin P. Eltife, the chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, said in a statement to the Star-Telegram the system is honored UT Austin was one of only nine institutions selected by the Trump administration.

“We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately,” Eltife said. “Higher education has been at a crossroads in recent years, and we have worked very closely with Governor Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Burrows to implement sweeping changes for the benefit of our students and to strengthen our institutions to best serve the people of Texas. Today we welcome the new opportunity presented to us and we look forward to working with the Trump Administration on it.”

Pauline Strong, president of the UT Austin chapter of the American Association of University Professors, told the Star-Telegram she and her colleagues at AAUP feel this is another attack on higher education.

Strong called out the state legislative bills that target DEI, faculty tenure and limits the role of faculty in decision-making.

“We now have this compact which intensifies the pressure on the university to move in a much more conservative direction, in a way that seems to be the opposite of intellectual diversity,” Strong said.

Strong said she believes that students are going to lose the opportunity to study many fields especially gender studies which looks at the important aspects of human life across cultures and time.

“Education is all about opening up our students to different perspectives, helping them think for themselves,” Strong said. “Higher education really cannot survive; it cannot prosper without academic freedom and free speech.”

What does the Trump compact agreement say?

“This Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education represents the priorities of the U.S. government in its engagements with universities that benefit from the relationship,” the agreement said. “Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below, if the institution elects to forego federal benefits.”

What are the colleges being asked to agree to?

Here’s what the compact asks of the universities:

• Transform or abolish institutional departments that purposefully punish, belittle and spark violence against conservative ideas.
• No admissions decisions or employee hiring based on sex, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religious associations or political views.  
• A five-year tuition freeze.
• Create a policy on institutional neutrality that prevents all university employees from publicly commenting on social and political events.
• A 15% limit on international student enrollment.
• Remove foreign financial entanglements, “screen out students who demonstrate hostility to the United States, its allies, or its values,” teach American civics to all foreign, and share “all known information about foreign students, including discipline records, upon request and as relevant, with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.”
• Remove grade inflations: All students need to demonstrate mastery of a subject.
• Enforcement: Universities should poll faculty, staff and students annually on whether the compact is being followed.

Strong said she can’t imagine what classrooms will look like if faculty and students can’t discuss their own views on issues such as conservative or liberal politics, radical politics, and gender. She said this is a concerning constraint on the faculty's ability to teach students.

The American Council of Learned Societies said the compact agreement undermines the long-standing independence of American academia.

“The White House is offering these nine universities a Hobson’s choice: give up privileged access to the public funding that supports vital research or make the university into an arm of the federal government,” the ACLS said in a statement. “Under financial and political pressure, university leadership, trustees, and regents may be tempted to sign and try to mitigate the damage later.”

AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten released a statement calling on all colleges and universities to reject the agreement.

“The federal government should not, under any circumstances, dictate who goes to college, what can be researched, or learned, and what can or can’t be the subject of critical academic inquiry,” the statement said. “A Mailman compact would turn a university administration into a weapon of the executive branch.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM.