❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump is offering nine universities a deal to advance conservative ideas on campus in exchange for federal funding.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Trump administration and nine universities.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The offer was sent from the White House on Wednesday to universities across the U.S.
💬KEY QUOTE: Participating universities will be required to scrap departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
🎯IMPACT: So far, nine universities have been sent the proposal, which includes stipulations such as banning race or sex as factors in admissions and hiring, freezing tuition fees for five years, and capping international undergraduate students at 15 percent.
President Donald J. Trump has proposed a 10-point “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to nine top universities, requiring them to promote conservative ideas and meet other conditions in exchange for federal funding. The compact promises benefits such as “substantial and meaningful federal grants” for universities that comply.
The deal includes stipulations such as banning race or sex as factors in admissions and hiring, freezing tuition fees for five years, and capping foreign undergraduate students at 15 percent. Universities must also foster a “vibrant marketplace of ideas” and scrap departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
So far, nine universities have been sent the proposal, including Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, and others. May Mailman, a senior White House adviser, explained that these universities were selected because their leadership or boards have shown a commitment to higher-quality education.
Critics, such as Cornell William Brooks from Harvard Kennedy School, have condemned the compact as a “weapon to exert command and control.”
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