University of Arizona becomes seventh US institution to reject Trump’s policy demands
Seven major US universities have now rejected a controversial “academic” plan by the White House, which is being denounced as a politically-charged scheme aimed at silencing dissent and punishing pro-Palestinian voices on campuses.
The University of Arizona on Monday became the latest US academic institution to refuse the Trump administration’s new policy demands, rejecting an offer of preferential federal funding in exchange for signing the so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
In a statement, the university affirmed its commitment to academic freedom, merit-based research, and institutional independence, noting that many of the proposals were “already in place” at the university, and some recommendations required “thoughtful consideration.”
So far, Brown University, MIT, the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia, and Dartmouth College have likewise spurned the proposal.
The administration’s “compact” would require universities to cap international students at 15%, eliminate departments accused of promoting “liberal bias,” and commit to “ideological balance” in classrooms, measures condemned by educators as thinly-veiled censorship.
The American Federation of Teachers blasted the initiative as “favoritism, patronage, and bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda.”
Since the start of Trump’s second term in January, the administration has slashed billions in research funding and linked grants to universities’ political behavior, particularly those hosting pro-Palestinian protests or supporting diversity programs.
Legal battles have followed. In September, a federal judge ruled that the White House had illegally canceled over $2.2 billion in research grants to Harvard University, calling the move “an ideologically motivated assault” on America’s top academic institutions.
Judge: Trump’s fight against Harvard used anti-Semitism as 'smokescreen'https://t.co/8PPGau0FUK
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The administration has also targeted universities such as Columbia, accusing them of “anti-Semitism” for hosting student protests against the Israeli regime’s war of genocide on Gaza.
The genocidal war, which began in October 2023, triggered a wave of protests across campuses countrywide, has claimed over 68,200 Palestinian lives, mostly those of women and children.
Student groups and faculty unions continue to push back against the “academic” scheme, which they say is primarily aimed at muffling such protests.
They have described the crackdown as part of a wider campaign to criminalize pro-Palestinian activism and reshape US academia into a politically-submissive space aligned with Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s interests.
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