1A 'If You Can Keep It': Trump Takes Aim At Academic Freedom
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Oct 20, 2025 Kate Hidalgo-Ballows, a staff reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education, dives into the Trump administration's controversial Compact for Academic Excellence. Joining her is Robert Kelchin, a professor at the University of Tennessee, who discusses the unprecedented federal conditions on funding. They explore the implications of capping international student enrollment, how universities are responding, and the threat to academic freedom. The conversation reveals deep concerns about the future of higher education amid increasing political influence.
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White House Links Funding To Ideology
- The Trump administration offered a "Compact for Academic Excellence" tying federal preferences to ideological demands.
- The compact requests ending race/sex considerations, capping international students, and limiting faculty speech.
Detailed Demands In The Compact
- The compact lists many specific conditions including reinstating SAT, defining gender as binary, and freezing tuition for five years.
- It promises preferential treatment in federal funding for schools that comply.
Federal Overreach Compared To Past Practice
- No prior federal administration has imposed ideological preconditions like this across higher education.
- State governments have done similar things to public universities, but Washington's move is unprecedented at the federal level.