Some comments on the proposed compact for higher education:
www.nysun.com/article/trum...
11.10.2025 11:45
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Some comments on the proposed compact for higher education:
www.nysun.com/article/trum...
BREAKING: MIT President Sally Kornbluth has rejected the Trump admin’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”:
“The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution.”
The universities asked to sign so far include:
-Vanderbilt
-Dartmouth
-Penn
-Brown
-MIT
-University of Southern California -University of Texas
-University of Arizona
-UVA
“‘Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those’ in the memo, if the institution elects to forgo federal benefits, the document says.”
“The compact asks universities to ensure a ‘vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus’ and to bar employees from expressing political views on behalf of their employer, unless the matter affects the school.”
“The memo demands that schools ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, cap international undergrad enrollment at 15%, require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test, and quell grade inflation.”
“Universities that sign on will get ‘multiple positive benefits,’ including ‘substantial and meaningful federal grants,’ according to a letter addressed to university leaders.”
BIG NEWS: The Trump administration has asked an initial 9 universities to sign onto a 10-point “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
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“It’s so hard to get authentic liberal education in today’s academy, because even when it wins, it loses.”
We spoke to Jennifer Frey about the decision to gut the Honors College at the University of Tulsa.
Full episode linked below.
Haha, welcome!
BREAKING: Harvard will not be meeting the demands of the Trump administration:
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
The Trump admin has sent its list of required reforms to Harvard:
-Agree to “full cooperation” with government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
-Ban masks during protests.
-Place disciplinary processes under “senior administration officials” and ensure that all students who violate policy are disciplined.
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NEW: The Trump admin has told Harvard what it must do to keep its federal funding:
-End DEI.
-Review and reform departments that “fuel antisemitic harassment.”
-Reform admissions and hiring to be “merit-based.”
-Eliminate all admissions based on “race or national origin.”
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Columbia has begun cancelling grants.
From an internal source:
“Grant cancellation notices flowing in now. Labs shutting down. Layoffs imminent. Faculty apoplectic at Katrina Armstrong for letting it get to this point. She has to fix this fast.”
57% of college presidents say they’ve been “not at all effective” in responding to declining public confidence in higher education.
Meanwhile, only 22% think concerns about ideological bias on their campuses are “very” or “extremely” valid.
There might be a connection there…
Yale Law has placed a faculty member with alleged ties to a foreign terrorist organization on immediate leave pending an investigation:
As part of a cluster hire in Palestinian Studies, Hunter College is looking to hire an anti-Israel activist.
A new job ad calls for an expert in “settler colonialism, genocide…apartheid,” etc.
It adds: “Ideal candidates will also have a record of public engagement and community action.”
The AAUP: We don’t know for sure whether we’re for institutional neutrality or against it, but we do know one thing: we’re against it.
A succinctly stated summary of a critique of DEI from the left:
Sonoma State University has announced massive cuts due to a $23.9 million deficit.
Enrollment has dropped 38% since 2015.
They’re cutting 46 faculty, whole programs and departments, and Division II athletics:
Scholasticide
I just heard from a professor at a university of about 6500 undergraduates that generative AI was accessed on the university network over 100,000 times per day (!) this semester.
Colleges have barely begun to grapple with the impact AI is already having on higher education.
