The Trump administration this week tried to make nine elite research universities an offer they can’t refuse. In exchange for vaguely defined funds, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia, and others were asked to sign a nine-page “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that amounts to complete adoption of the MAGA higher-education agenda. If they don’t agree? “The institution elects to forego federal benefits,” seemingly including federal contracts and access to student loans.
The compact is the newest escalation in Trump’s attempt to impose ideological dominance over America’s world-class colleges and universities. The document is breathtaking in its ambition, plainly illegal, and shot through with the tensions that mark Trumpism in its latest form.
Bringing higher education to heel has been a top White House priority.
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